Our Life Here Part 1

(From a couple of weeks ago...but I was not able to post...the no internet problem.)

Hi, Still no internet connection at our house! This has become the biggest hurdle to get past. We heard of a cable company in our area that offers internet too. Let's hope it is true and works! Wednesday – Friday & Sunday are our service days. They are long! :) We start at 9am and sometimes finish at 9:30pm! Our day is varied with return visits, Bible studies, and English speakers search work (where we go door-to-door asking if English speakers live here). So, it really is not too bad. I have been having to pick up mango-s each morning in our yard. Our mango tree drops the fruit throughout the day. They are small mango-s but very tasty! I love mango-s!! I think our tree will be done by the end of this week. We have another mango tree but the fruit is just starting to form; very cute! These mango-s are supposed to be large. It will take a while for the fruit to grow and then ripen. Our dogs seem to be enjoying their new yard. We still leave them in the house when we are gone.

I buy my food both from the local grocery store and from the local market. Papayas, pineapples, oranges, bananas and many other fruit are sold from the back of parked pick-ups throughout the city. My neighbor is a partner in a chicken farm so, we buy our chicken from them. I was surprised to find out that a whole chicken included the feet! They cut up chicken different here so Rob and I are always trying to guess what piece it is...we always get the legs & wings correct! There is a brother who owns a meat market here. I will go check it out and buy some beef from him. Cheeses are different here. Lots of softer types. The Oaxaca kind is sort of a string cheese in ropes that are curled round into a roll. The Oaxacan type works well for quesidillas. We were told that manchego cheese is a cheddar cheese but Robin and I think it tastes more like a Jack cheese. We buy our tortillas from the tortilla shops around town. Our bottled water gets delivered as does our propane for our stove. I do not have a washing machine or dryer so, our neighbor sister does the wash. I really want to buy my own machine so that I can do my laundry my way. I handwash my personal items because I find it strange to have someone else do this. Her husband made my dining room table as well as our other tables. We had a return visit make our 6 chairs. The wood chairs were about $5 more than buying plastic chairs. We did buy a small A/C unit for our bedroom. It works fine. We are in our bedroom right now. Rob is working on his talk for Tuesday night. He also has the special talk on April 6^th in Comalcalco where the Paraiso English congregation meets. Busy times for him.

The beach is about a 10 minute drive away. This week many in Mexico have time off and much of it is spent at the beach. This is probably not the week to go to the beach.