Happenings & Happenstance

I have discovered when a people leave a place they have called "home" for much of their lives they cannot only miss foods, activities and family but also sounds. I was reminded of that recently when Diana and I heard a train barreling down the track behind the wheat factory near our place. The shrill whistle and clacking on the tracks was a unexpected and welcome delight.

Smells bring back those strong memories too. Recently I picked up a bouquet of nine small gardenia flowers at the traffic light. A young guy was selling 9 of them for .90 cents US. One good whiff and I was transported back to my grandpa's house in the Blue Ridge Mountains. It was summer and the gardenia plant in front of the house was sunning itself. The grass was freshly mowed and just to the left I could see the old cistern that served as my lookout, ship, fort and a jail from one time to another.

We have been in lots of language and translation situations since we came to Mexico, but Saturday evening took it to an all new level. When we were invited by Ariana to attend a choir concert, we never expected that the announcements and devotional would be given in Korean and then translated into Spanish. It was the first time in my life when Spanish was my stronger language.

Here's another first, today I was sitting at a traffic light when a Volkswagen Jetta pulled up beside me. It was packed with eight people, three in front and five in the back. That's not all that unusual; I mean I have seen five people on a motorcycle. What took me by surprise was the guy who lifted the trunk to get some fresh air.

Momoxpan is know for their fireworks. We can attest to that! They are loud, unpredictable and untimely. Like our first night here when they went off at five in the morning. Boom........... boom............. boom................... boom.................... boom.................. boom.................. boom. Then boomboomboomboomboomboomboomboomboomboomboomboomboom in a cluster. We later learned this early morning pattern was to announce that a death had occurred in the community during the night and we could expect to see a procession to the cemetery later in the day.

To answer the person who asked about the photo below: I guess all I can say is that this much junk welded to the top of a car fascinates me (probably my upbringing) and that taking time to snap it caused our entire group to miss the next bus.