Abbreviated Tales from Tijuana

There is always so much to say, and I have been going through the gamut of emotions. You would think there would be more frequent posts, but I am trying to process everything and not spread senseless commentary. Since I haven't any particular reflection to share for the past week I have decided to share some tidbits of life in Tijuana:

Clima (Weather):
Tijuana is pretty cold. Especially at night! Oh my goodness. I wake up several times a night curled in a ball with the blankets pulled over my head. My compañera finally gave up and we succumbed to the cold; we brought in space heaters. Mornings are usually chilly and sometimes misty. It reminds me a lot of when I lived on the Oregon Coast when I was younger. And, it can be breezy. It rained for about two days straight last week. The streets turned into running streams of muddy water and there was hardly a person or dog in the street, which is rare. I went walking in the rain to see what it was like. Several people looked at me like I was a lunatic, a few grinned, and some offered me a ride. I declined, and tried to dodge the mudpuddles and squishy parts of the saturated dirt roads.

La Guerra Solita (The lone white girl):
Being addressed as "guerra" has become fairly typical. I can't say that I enjoy it, although it's not really an offensive term. It refers to somebody fair-skinned and blonde. I can only remember one time when someone called me guerra in Cuernavaca, but here practically everyone refers to me as "la guerra."
My campañera left for home in the States yesterday and I had an itch to go to the beach. So I did. And I enjoyed it...for the most part. Rosarito is a nice place, but I would have liked to join one of the family picnics or go horseback riding with someone. I meandered, chatted with a vendor from Taxco, and dipped my toes in the water. On the drive home I accidentally took the scenic route which is a cuota road to Tijuana. It was beautiful: speeding down the coastline with music up and windows down. I turned around before I was lost or bumped into a toll booth! Sometimes it dawns on me that I am driving around TJ alone and I laugh in disbelief. I wonder what my parents think about that...? I find myself doing a lot of activities alone, but it is a different sort of loneliness than that which I feel when I am living alone in Seattle. I don't think that I can describe it well. I got to the market alone, I walk the streets alone, I sit at home alone, and the world around me keeps turning and people go about there business. It is just interesting to be in a place where I am so completely unknown and so different from everyone else. It is especially hard here where everything is so familiar and communal. It is not customary for anyone to be out alone. And all the pretty children with their parents! All of these observations are providing some food for thought about what kind of future I feel called to and how I imagine myself in relationship with others and God.

Maneja como taxista! (Drive like a taxista!)
Since I mentioned me driving, let me describe to you some observations. Driving "rules" are generally optional: stop signs, seatbelts, turn signals. You can even make your own lane on the side of the road if you want. U-turns are expected. Instead of an intersection, there are places where an extra lane is given to make a U-turn, or there is a gap in the concrete division to cross into the lanes going the other direction. There are runners on the highway, people selling things at stop lights (air freshners, newspapers, candies,etc.), and lots of potholes and some steep, steep hills. Oh, and people go four-wheeling here! ha! And I thought I had left Tillamook County. And the motorcycles, well, there are no rules for them. Defensive driving is a must-have skill. There are also a lot of racing clubs in Tijuana.

I have more to say and will try add more tonight.
peace,
aly