Romania 2009: Day 5

Sunday – time for church. Our expectations of having the church service be extremely long, 3-4 hours, in a hot building with no AC, mainly in a foreign language have been set and played on my mind. We all met up for breakfast and for those that know me you will be pleased to know that my messing around with the waiters or waitresses is international and works even when they don’t speak a word of English. Our waitress was a little gruff to start off but after a couple of quick jokes she had a smile on her face. I think her favorite was when I asked if they would cook one of the fish in their fish tank for me. Anyway I am now ready to take on any server, in any restaurant, in any country.
We split into three groups to go to the three churches we support. I was in the group that went to Fieni. This is the church we are going to help build next week and as such is in pretty poor condition. I think with the 15 of us we doubled the congregation. We sang some songs in Romanian and English (at the same time) and then Stuart gave the sermon. Given the need for translation he did a great job of using simple phrases to get a great message across. Then I was able to give my testimony. Half way through a lady ran out. Now this could have been for a few reasons:
1. She was so overcome with emotion with my story it really touched her heart
2. There was a problem outside with the children
3. She thought the building was going to collapse and made a dash for the door.
I’d like to think it was #1, it probably was #2 but I couldn’t risk it be #3 and so I started running after her.
After the service we had a great lunch with them and started to find out more about them as people. The one story that touched me was of an eleven year-old girl called Lavinia. About 4 months ago her father died and she and her 4 siblings live with her mother is suffering from a mental illness. This girl was adorable and I would have no problem adopting. My heart just goes out to her.
The other eye opening story was about Pastor Lance. Marian, the assistant pastor, asked if we had gone to the castle in Sinaia and whether we had the “beer”. We questioned him again to make sure we heard correctly and he said yes the “beer”. We wanted to not be a stumbling block and so obviously said no. But he said that when Pastor Lance had visited and gone up into Sinaia he had the “beer” and they had a picture of it. Now somebody tried to persuade me that it was a “bear” and even showed us the picture of a “bear” but a few of the team are staying with the “beer” part and are going to have the “beer” tonight. (Just kidding).
For evening Church we headed over to Pucioasa and ended up with an overflowing church. The seats in the church were full, the balcony was full and even outside the windows was full. Most people from our group got up to either sing or play an instrument or share a word or just have Happy Birthday sung to them. I have noticed that I am usually skipped over for this. Even this morning as Stuart asked for someone to volunteer to share their testimony and I offered he had a pained look on his face and pleaded with the others for someone else to share. When he started to ask the Romanian children and even dogs and they said no or did not step up to the plate, I realized I was a last resort. After a longish but good service we shared a meal with the Church. This to them is fellowship. They love to share a meal with others and I tend to agree with this philosophy.
Don does have a little issue with barbeque lighter fluid – I am sure you are only supposed to put a few squirts on, not the whole bottle. The flames were quite impressive and seemed to do a great job of taking the paint off of the church’s brand new grill. I think this could be one of the reasons for the “Americans” prayer, i.e. “please deliver us from these Americans”.
As a wind down to the evening we all went to the restaurant where we have breakfast as well. The waitress seemed to remember me for some reason and I spent the whole time refining my almost fluent Romanian. One of the tricks I have learned over the years is to just say “Yes” in the local language (“Da” in Romanian) after they have said something to you. In Romania the people are very demonstrative speakers and what seems to be fun is to say “Da” in a loud voice after they have said something to someone else as though you are agreeing with them. They seem to first look at you totally surprised that you can’t order something simple but suddenly seem to be able to understand a full blown conversation.
As I close down for another day I try to reflect on some of the reasons for being here. The youth from the Church are truly wonderful people. To see how they have welcomed us with open arms, to see them interact with each other and genuinely seem to enjoy spending time together is in stark contrast to the majority of the youth who spend their evenings sitting around town. These teenagers can be the light the other youths need but they are under so much pressure to conform to the world.
Romans 12: 2, 9 – “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God … Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good.”

Romania 2009: Day 4

I have made the mistake of going by Day 1, Day 2 etc. So now I have no clue as to what day it is. Luckily there are other adults who seem to have kept better track of what day it is and they tell me what we are doing and where to go. Last night we decided to have a talent show. The Parkin sisters started with a couple of songs and a superb home-made rap about Chick Fil-A. Essentially that was the end of the talent show as no-one else really wanted to step up to claim they were talented after the Parkin sisters sang. Next time we need to start with some other people before the really talented people get up.

The days seem to fall into the same pattern. The Romanian youth want to stay up all night and the Americans at least go to bed at some reasonable time. In the morning the US contingent is up early followed by the Romanians.
After a quick clean up at the house in Sinaia we loaded up onto the coach back down to Pucioasa but even that wasn’t without incident. Before the coach arrived Niku asked everyone to get all of the bags outside the house. Literally as the last bags were coming out it started to rain: “All the bags back in the house”. We finished getting them back in and then the coach turned up: “Load the coach up”. Before we had really begun the day we had shifted about 50 suitcases three times. Unfortunately because of my pulled muscle I had to step up and take the role of foreman.
Nate has taken on the mission of trying to catch everyone on camera as they sleep which makes everyone sleep with one eye open. However, even on this trip people are willing to take the risk of the camera just to catch up on sleep.
The new hotel in Pucioasa is actually quite acceptable. There is no AC which could be problematic but we shall see how the temperature goes. The room is kind of small but the really weird thing is the size of the eating table which is about 2 foot off the floor and the stools are about a foot off the floor (see the photo). If I sat down on that stool it would be demolished. We had lunch at the church which also suffers from small-itus. The youth went up onto the balcony and most had to bend over to get up there.
Pucioasa is a fairly small town. A visit to the local market took all of 2 minutes and they are obviously looking forward to my fire eating here and have posters up all over but I am not sure why they have a picture of a clown!

I have to go back to the dogs. In my earlier blog when I said they are everywhere I was under-exaggerating. They are absolutely every single place possible. If you actually pet them or even worse give them food they seem to have a secret calling system and others just turn up to get a piece of the action. You have to check out the dog searching the trash can. All of the travel sites say to stay clear of the dogs but that is impossible. At camp we had our own dog called Lily who was the smallest dog of the strays but kept them all under control. There was the dog who though he was King of the

Hill and just watched over everything. There has already been talk of bringing one home but I think my wife would kill me.
As we spend more time together as a team we get to bond closer and closer and learn more about each other and our backgrounds. Most people want to know where I got my athletic prowess from and I tell them about my days in high-level sports. My middle school football team was pretty good. Also there is a comfort level between the youth and the adults as well. Today DJ, Don and Chrissie’s eight-year-old son, ran down stairs and the hotel and just ran into Nate and Sarah’s room to say hi, obviously just feeling at home with the Krupke’s. Unfortunately, Sarah was in the bathroom at the time and DJ just blasted his way in. When Nate told him he needed to close the door DJ closed the door but stayed in the room. It wasn’t until Nate told him to leave the room completely that DJ left, somewhat confused about what the issue was.
On another front I did want to make one apology. In one of my earlier blogs I had said that the men were all over 40 and it was pointed out that Nate was only 36. So my apologies to Nate – when a body has aged as badly as that it really is hard to judge a person’s age accurately.

Colossians 2:13-14 – “And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.”

Let me first finish out day 2. After spending 30 mins posting the blog Nate and I returned to “camp”. It seems as though volleyball is the chosen sport. David, one of the Romanian teenagers and I did break off for a game of 1 on 1 basketball. After spotting him a 7-0 lead (the kid doesn’t miss a shot) I cut him a break and called the game when the basketball hoop fell off the board. Little did he know I was just warming up. Truth be known I was already sucking wind and that was just from collecting the ball after he scored and checking the ball back to him.
We did the first devotion with all the youth and the challenges of language translation were there but it is still amazing how God can get through. We have decided to just pray and not translate and we take turns to pray in each language. I am not positive about this but the Romanian prayers all contain the word for “American” and I question whether they are asking God when these Americans are going to leave them alone. “Please deliver us from these Americans, let the bears be abundant when they are outside”. Luckily they have realized I am English and don’t include me in that prayer.
The fire eating went well. The main objective is not to burn myself and I didn’t. The next is not to swallow too much gas/petrol. Now let me explain, in the US I use camping fluid in the fire eating. I didn’t think transporting a highly combustible fluid through airport security was a good idea. I was worried enough that I had two barbecue spits (for the fire eating), a bunch of balloons (for balloon animals) and a rubber chicken (a long story) in my suitcase and I was going to have to explain this to TSA. As such I had to buy a combustible fluid over here and the only option was car gas/petrol. The Romanian gas has definitely got a different vintage than Coleman’s camping fluid but it definitely still burps up the same way. Overall it went down well – at least for me.
Despite the storm that blew through overnight we all seemed to get enough sleep. I was rather worried because of the reputation my wife had set for me through Nate’s blog that I snore rather loudly (which is obviously highly exaggerated – it is my dog). The pastor of the Romanian church, Niku, and I were in the same room on different couches and the last thing he said to me before going to sleep was that he was a very light sleeper and wakes up at the smallest noise. I think all night I only half slept because I didn’t want my purring to keep him awake. He is still talking to me this morning and so it seemed to go well. Apparently I may have been a little louder than I thought as he shared with others about my “noring”. I guess he was just being very polite.
Friday has been a day of devotion and sports. After the devotion time it was time for kickball. I’m not sure who won but I did pull a muscle. One day I am going to learn to stretch before trying to play soccer or any soccer derivative. With the heavy rain a few people did get a little muddy. Isabelle stepped in a decided to put a wash on for us. Now most Americans know the phrase measure twice, cut once, and I think this applies to this. My iPhone has a converter on it and Isabelle asked me how much 106 milli-litres was in teaspoons. The answer is about 0.7 of a teaspoon. When her response was “oops” we had to go and look at the washing machine. Isabelle had pretty much filled the draw up and you actually couldn’t see any clothes because of the soap bubbles. Maybe asking before putting the liquid and turning it on would have been a better path. Thankfully there was no overflowing.
The afternoon was another devotion and then volley ball. It really is interesting to see how this youth struggle with the things the world is telling them is okay. As parents, as friends, as mentors we need to be walking alongside them as they struggle with seemingly simple issues but when asked it really is eating away at them.
Tonight we introduce the Romanian youth to Tacos which should be interesting. Not sure when I will have the chance to post next as we head back to Pucioasa tomorrow.
Ephesians 4: 21-24 – “if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.”
Colossians 3:12-14 – “Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.”

Romania 2009: Day 2

Woke up at 4:30 a.m. this morning which is 8:30 p.m. in Houston. My first concern was that my body would think it just had a power nap and would want to go to bed in a few hours. After a good breakfast headed out to play soccer. Obviously the imposing presence of Don Owens, Hunter and myself scared the locals away and we didn’t even have our Houston Dynamo shirts on. But I guess when you are an athlete then you don’t have to wear sports clothes to impress people. It was either this or the lack of sleep was playing havoc with my sense of reality.
The drive through Bucharest and then up to Pucioasa and on to Sinaia in the mountains really show the differing cultures and history of Romania. Within the heart of Bucharest there is a lot of business and it is more modern in its architecture. As you get to the outskirts it is definitely more rustic. Along the route there were several small villages like Contesti, Aninoasa, and Doicesti and then another big town called Targoviste. Most of the condition of the housing points to the poverty that exist but at the same time a lot of these houses also have satellite dishes. And then with these towns there is the occasional big house. It points back to the Great Romania where there were a few very wealthy aristocracy and then a lot of poor people.
The most interesting towns were gypsy villages. The first was where the government had stepped and helped build houses. The gypsies moved their horses inside these nice houses and they live outside in tents. I guess with how important horses are to their livelihood it makes sense. All the way on the drive there are horse drawn carts carrying every kind of material. One even had a fridge in the back. Wasn’t sure if they had picked this up or whether they just use it to carry their food back home in it to keep it warm. I’m not sure if they realize it has to be plugged in to keep the .The second village was a town where they basically search the river bed for stones to use for building. This will include smashing bigger stones to get the right size rocks for building. Their houses are surrounded by piles of rocks and the houses are very attractive.
The other humorous sight was a lady who was probably in her 70’s taking a cow (yes a cow) for a walk.
In Pucioasa we picked up the youth from the church to head up to the cabin in Sinaia. Before leaving we managed to fit in a game of volleyball. At first it was the Americans versus the Europeans (I was obviously on the European side) but when we realized that the Americans could score a point we split the sides up. It is amazing how fast these youth can bond. Despite the language barrier the two groups of youth have already bonded. One of the coolest things was on the coach to Sinaia where they sang praise and worship songs in two separate languages. At times simultaneously and it really sounded good. To know that God was being lifted up by groups with the same belief but in a different language was really awesome.
There is probably a lot more I could write but we are limited for time as we are sitting in a hotel lobby borrowing their wireless internet. If I get more time tonight I will share some more thoughts. If we get gas/petrol then tonight I might do my fire eating. So pray that I don’t burn myself or burn the cabin down.

Romania is a dog nation. There are dogs everywhere, mostly stray dogs but they are everywhere. My daughter Savannah would not survive over here or she would have to own a really big house because she would want to take them all in.
"All the earth shall worship You And sing praises to You; They shall sing praises to Your name" – Psalm 66:4

Romania 2009: Day One (and a half)

With 25 people all wearing Houston Dynamo shirts (bright orange, really bright orange) it is hard not to stand out. As Hunter and I arrived at the airport we just headed towards the glow and found the rest of the team. I have figured out why Houston win so many soccer games – it is nothing to do with their skills but with 11 people running around in these shirts it is blinding. On the team there are 12 men and 15 women. Of the men there are three teenagers, 1 eight year old and the rest of us over 40. As such it amazes me that a few people actually ask us if we are the actual soccer team. I know given my athletic physique it would be believable but really!!
The flight has been longish and not very comfortable especially with the guy in front of me reclining his chair all the way back. So I did ask them to move me up to first. (Hence the picture – actually I only got to tour the plane and “try” first class). I did ask the flight attendant if the pilot could take a quick detour and do a fly by of my Mum’s house so I could wave to her as I hadn’t seen her for over 3 years. And of course they had to make an announcement for “Giles Britton in 36H” to the whole plane that they were swinging by in 15 minutes and the pilot had called my Mum and she would be outside waving.
Landed in Heathrow and was surrounded by a bunch of people who spoke like me. Funnily enough all of the employees spoke English as well. I am going to try and take this concept to Miami Airport when I am next there. Also met a man from Scotland who again asked if we played for the Houston Dynamo. I’m starting to think that I’m not in as bad shape as I thought I was. Mind you he did mention that the only reason he asked was because he knew the Manager of the Dynamo.
On the 3 hour flight to Bucharest I did get some sleep during the first couple of hours and then spoke to the lady next to me and that was it. I got the complete run down of her life – where she was born and raised, her move to America, her two children and their lives, and a blow by blow account of her career. The big take away from this conversation or monologue was her feelings towards Obama. As she lived in NY I assumed she would like him but it was interesting to find that she did not think he is the right person for the job and she believes that a majority of Americans fell for the smooth (yet empty) talk.
First, impressions of Romania is that it is more flat than I thought it would be, the weather is not too bad – a little on the hot side but definitely bearable – the people seem to be nice but for some reason they don’t speak much if any English. So far I have figured out that speaking in Spanish and speaking louder and slower in English do not really help the communication process. I can see that my acting skills are going to pay dividends over here.
Hotel is surprisingly nice and had a good dinner at the hotel. Ordering was a challenge as the menu was mainly in Romanian and again the pesky issue of the people not speaking English complicated things. There were a couple of dishes I was not going to order regardless of the language barrier (see the photo) – I appreciate the honesty but not sure it does much for sales.
Finally back in the room for the night now. Tomorrow we set out for Pucioasa and look to prepare our hearts for the work we have to do there. In Acts 13: 47-48 it says “For so the Lord had commanded us: I have set you as a light to the Gentiles, that you should be for salvation to the ends of the earth. Now when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. And as many had been appointed to eternal life believed.” As Paul set out on his missionary journeys he spoke the gospel boldly despite the suffering he would go through. My prayer tonight is that I would be bold enough to share the gospel even in the difficult situations and as I look to serve others I too would be a light. It ultimately comes down to God’s appointing of the believers and I need to continue to be the light in my words and actions.
God bless

Romania 2009: The Day Before

At some point in your life you sit down and think about all of those things you would like to do (bungee jump, sky dive, walk the Great Wall of China) or places you would like to visit (African safari, Australian outback, the Caribbean). Sometimes you get the opportunity to cross an item off the list (I have now been to the Caribbean) and sometime you get close but not quite there (I did walk into the Great Wall chinese restaurant in NYC).
There are other times when you know you want to do something different but you're not quite sure what it is until it happens. For years I felt God calling me to do more for Him but I just haven't been so good at listening. I enjoy teaching and studying but have not really found the avenue for that path. I have also realized that I have been extremely blessed and I know that there are millions of people who struggle with their every day existence and even worse their hope lies in this world and not in the hope of eternity with Jesus. As I read the bible I am ever more drawn into the example of Jesus as a servant and wonder why I find it so hard to be a servant.
On June 23rd, 2009 my son, Hunter, and I with 25 other people from our church Harvest Bible Church, head to Romania to a small village called Puciosa about 40 miles northwest of Bucharest (as the crow flies). While there we will run a VBS for the church and will also help them build the second story to the church.
I am still not quite sure about internet connectivity but God willing I will get about 30 mins each night to send a blog so that you can join us in our adventure. Please pray for our whole group as we spend 10 days in Romania.
I now get to cross two items off my list - visit Eastern Europe and go on a missions trip. Somehow I think this is not really crossing off anything but adding so many desires for my future and hopefully it will all be in God's will.

Working in Mexico

Tales From Mexico

At first working in Monterrey, Mexico seemed like a kind of exotic idea and on December 1 I flew a quick hour-long flight and arrived for a six-month long project.
As soon as I got to Mexico I thought I'd try out my fluency in Spanish with the taxi driver and realized very quickly I couldn't remember the Spanish for weather but somehow I conveyed to the taxi driver that I wanted a guided tour of every big building we drove past. When he dropped me off he seemed very happy and obviously had enjoyed my supposed request for a guided tour.
The senior manager of the project took me out to lunch and proceeded to order my lunch for me without my even seeing a menu. When I asked what he had ordered me the most clear answer I got was "meat". At that I thought it best not to enquire what kind. I also had my first spanish lesson, here Diet Coke is Coke Light - if you ask for Diet anything you get some weird looks but I don’t think what a said was a swear word in Spanish.
The Monterrey office was very hospitable and on my first night held a big party for me where they rented out a restaurant and had free drinks and set up casino tables. About 50 BearingPoint employees and their wives came. To be truthful I couldn't understand what the "fiesta" was for but it seemed reasonable that it would be for me.
At the party I had another Spanish translation problem as I tried to ask the waiter what kind of drinks they had. He just walked away and came back with two beers. Not sure what I said and I’m not sure about the Mexicans attempt at mind reading – I was looking for a soda.

End of day one.

Got up early as always and headed down to the gym. Got on the treadmill and set the speed for 8 miles an hour. Boy I was feeling strong today. It seemed a breeze and I knew I would break my record time for 2 miles. I suddenly realized it was in kilometers and I was running much slower than I thought. I spent the rest of the run trying to multiply everything by 5 and divide by 8 to get it to miles. I’d try again the next day.
Mexican timing is a little different. We don't plan to leave the hotel until 8:15 a.m. which, I have found, means 8:30 a.m. at the earliest. They don't have lunch until about 1 p.m. but it is a 2-hour lunch (oh, and alcohol is perfectly acceptable) and they knock off about 7 p.m. If someone says they will meet you in 15 minutes you can quite easily read a couple of chapters of a book before they get there. If you have a meeting scheduled for 11 a.m. it means that you don’t have to think about leaving for the meeting until about 11:05 and you usually go to it at 11:10.
I was a little worried about maintaining my Atkins diet down here. Now I am just worried about eating, period. Last night I didn't eat dinner, this morning I didn't eat breakfast and that seems to be the norm for all of them. I'm not sure if I can survive on one meal a day. Didn't care what I ate at lunch today. I even ate “huesito” which basically is scraping the marrow out of a bone and eating it. I remember my dogs liking that and I wasn’t quite sure why I was eating it – I put it down to hunger blindness.
At lunch I took the opportunity to try and blend in with the team here. I still have a hard time understanding all of the conversations so have just started to join in the laughter anytime they start. I figure if I laugh loud enough they will think I understand them and just enjoy being with them. I hope they are not calling me names. I also got another lesson today and found out that you only tip 10% and you don't tip taxi drivers at all. It all became suddenly clear why the taxi driver from the airport was so happy, I had tipped him 20%.
I have already given up on my jokes - I seem to be the only one who laughs but that seems to be par for the course every where I go so maybe I'll just continue on. Maybe if I laugh really loud at my own jokes they will feel obliged to laugh as well, just like I do with them.
Another thing I have realized is that I am the tallest person around. At last I have found a place where I can challenge people to basketball and feel like Shaq.
Driving down here is a nightmare. There are three types of drivers:

1. Those that drive about the speed limit.
2. Those that drive about 100 miles an hour everywhere
3. Those that drive at about 20 miles per hour, usually because their vehicle is about to fall apart.

There also seems to be no rule against changing lanes at will, without signaling even if there is a car next to you. The only laws against it that I can see are the laws of Physics. You know, the ones about when one mass hits another mass there is a displacement of force equal to the energy going into the impact. Surprisingly Monterrey has one of the highest car accident rates in Latin America. My team, to a man, drop into the 100 mph group. I constantly feel like I am living a video game something like Gran Turismo and Frogger combined.
I am determined to improve my Spanish and at times I actually find myself thinking in Spanish and every so often a long lost word will pop back into my memory. When I’m in a restaurant I make every attempt to order in Spanish. Usually I plan what I am going to say and then when the waiter or waitress comes to me I fire off my order in perfect Spanish. I don’t know why they cannot just take my order say thank you and go to the next person. But without fail they always ask me a question back that I am totally unprepared for and I just look at them like a lost puppy and hope that somebody will answer for me. On one of my visits to the Supermarket I made the mistake of saying something to the check out boy. He obviously was impressed with my Spanish and having scanned the last product asked me a question. That wasn’t supposed to happen. He was supposed to total my bill, I would see the amount and then give him the money. Instead, I apparently donated some money to a charity.

Overall Monterrey is better than I expected it would be and if I do stay for the six months I probably will have a few more tales to tell.

The Tales Continue

Mexico is a place that grows on you - like a bad case of athlete’s foot. Not really. The people here seem to have a great disposition and in general tend to have a smile on their faces. Now, I’m not sure if that is because they find my attempts to speak Spanish humorous but they do seem to laugh a lot.
When it comes to my trying to speak Spanish this seems to have its upsides and downsides. First, the upside. I really think they believe I understand what they are saying and so they don’t make fun of me. Now obviously I don’t know this because I don’t understand what is being said and the lots of laughing is suspicious but why I think this is true is that they do make fun of “los gringos” (the Americans) a lot and I have been clearly labeled as English not “gringo”. For the upside that is it and for the downside there seems to be a few more issues and these seem to be more important.
With my trying to speak Spanish they do jump to the conclusion that I am fluent and so they continue to speak at normal speeds and for some people that is fast. I’m not sure what the record in the Guiness Book of Records is for most words in a minute but I am sure that it was someone speaking Spanish and while I have been here I think I have witnessed several occasions where the person has come close to breaking the record as they talk to me. I have, however, figured out when someone asks me a question. The room goes very quiet and everyone looks at me. I hope my monosyllabic response of “si” doesn’t give away the fact that I have no idea what the question was. If they continue to look at me after I have said “si” then I know more was needed and so I have the fallback of saying “Well, hmm, let me think about that for a while”.
In restaurants I am still having a few problems. The other day at lunch with several colleagues they al got their plates with lots of food on them. Meanwhile I just got a slab of meat. Apparently my attempt to order extra vegetables instead of potatoes didn’t quite work. A couple of times at work someone has made an announcement about an ad hoc team meeting. The first I know about it is when I realize everyone has disappeared and then someone comes out of the meeting to come and get me.
Another endearing trait of the Mexican men is the greeting ritual. A simple “hello” or shake of the hand does not suffice. Instead a handshake, hug and pat on the back, or a handshake ritual similar to some kind of gang handshake will take place. Now either one of these greeting rituals will take place with every male in the room. It doesn’t seem to be limited to once a day in the morning but seems to happen when you return to the room after leaving for more than an hour. Now I’m not sure of which ritual is appropriate for which situations and most of the time I am okay because I just do the same greeting as the person in front of me. The problem comes when I am first in line. I’ll go for the hug and the pat on the back meanwhile the other person is doing some kind of handshake ritual. I usually defer to the hug and pat on the back because I also have no idea what the handshake ritual is and it keeps changing. My attempt to lead ends up being some kind of three stooges handshake.

For anyone stuck in the past Monterrey is the place for you. My record collection from the 80’s is back in fashion. I’m amazed I can still remember as many of Lionel Richie’s lyrics as I do. Also if you have ever wondered what happened to all the cars from the 70’ and, 80’s that aren’t preserved as classics in the US, wonder no more. They are here!
Through some major reconstructive surgery process these old cars are given a new life down here. A lot of these cars are the ones that are only going 20 mph but it really is amazing that they go at all. For all you VW Beetle fans, Monterrey is paradise. It seems as though the VW “Bug” has been a proven success in the reconstructive surgery process. There are thousands of them down here, so many so that a game of slug bug usually ends in blood. A lot of people have Beetles as their personal car but somewhat surprisingly the Beetle has also become a staple of the taxi force down here. It is surprising especially when you realize that the Beetle is a one-door car. The way they have overcome the passenger needing to climb over the front seat to get to the back is just to rip out the front passenger seat. This however, does limit the passenger capacity to two.
Another novel use for Beetle was as a school bus. No kidding, it had all the markings and colorings of a school bus. Even had the “careful children crossing” sign. Obviously it is for a very small school or it takes a long time to get all the kids home.
Even more surprising is that I saw my first ever VW Beetle police car the other day. Somehow that doesn’t conjure up the picture of a high tech police force. Mind you it doesn’t seem that the main purpose of the police force requires much technology besides perhaps a calculator. If you are pulled over by a policeman, which by all accounts seem to be an arbitrary event at best, you only need to find out what the fine is for your alleged infraction and then pay a percentage (10%- 20%) of that fine in a bribe directly to the policeman, hence the need for the calculator. It is such a widely accepted practice that at times you will even be given a sticker on your license that says you have already paid a bribe that day and you shouldn’t be charged another one but be let go scot-free instead. I thought this was an exaggeration until I saw the license of a work colleague with the sticker on it. I guess the Catholic tradition of indulgences has found another walk of life to be a part of.
Another interesting fact for all of you who complain about work conditions in America or elsewhere in the world is that for the first two years of employment with a company you get a whopping 6 days of vacation each year. After the first two years there is a jump up in the third year with an extra day added. I’m now not convinced that the Mexicans who illegally cross the border into America are doing so for the wages. I think they just want a day off.

Well it doesn’t look like I will be here for 6 months now. Mind you that is solely based on my estimation of my role. Seeing as I don’t really understand what is being said in the meetings I am not sure how the project is going and I am not sure if I am volunteering to do something extra every time I say “si” in one of those uncomfortable silences when everyone looks at me.

The six-month project is over in 6 weeks – well that’s the only thing that was early for the whole project. Monterrey is a nice place but I’ll be glad to be back home with the family where at least it’s the same language that separates us.