Last Saturday when we got together with the Senior
missionaries at the manzana, we had a fun surprise--Alan and Kathy Manwaring
stopped in. At first, it just seemed normal to see them there, since they were
missionaries here up until just a couple of months ago. They had come back to
Mexico City for a visit as “civilians.” Their stay that evening was brief, but
on Thursday, they came to the office and went to lunch with us, the Wrights,
and Pat Frandsen. We had lunch at a little place we found in the pueblito that
makes pretty good hamburgers and fries. It was fun to catch up with the
Manwarings and hearing that there is life after a mission. However, they are
already planning to go on another mission, so “life after a mission” may not
last long for them! We weren’t able to spend a lot of time with them when they
were serving in Mexico because they lived near the temple, which is quite far
from Teca Once, but we always enjoyed their company and their example of
positive, devoted service. We loved seeing them again.
After completing our communications seminar last week, we
had a little lull at the office this week. Friday afternoon I wasn’t very busy,
so I texted Vicky Deaver and said, “If you’re not too busy, let’s go get
pedicures this afternoon.” We’d both been saying we were in dire need of pedicures
for a couple of weeks, so she agreed. We went to the salon in the pueblito
where I get my hair cut. They don’t have the pedicure chairs we’re used to in
the U.S. Instead they had us sit in normal chairs and brought over tubs of
water for us to soak our feet in. (As a side note, Ron and I have always wondered
how the trees planted in the sidewalks survive because they are surrounded by
concrete and asphalt. After we finished soaking our feet, they took the tubs of
water out and poured them on the tree in front of the salon, so now at least we
know how that one survives.) The woman doing my pedicure sat on a stool in
front of me and had me put each foot on her knee while she worked on it, and
instead of having foam toe separators, they used rolled up toilet paper. But
the end result was still a nice pedicure! I have decided that I need to be
brave and start talking to people in Spanish more. I tried that while I was
having my pedicure. I asked the woman her name, and she answered. (Alejandra.) I
complimented the elephant pin she was wearing. She said it was a gift. However,
she didn’t elaborate. That’s how it went, I’d ask a question and she’d answer
briefly. It quickly started feeling like I was interrogating her, so I backed
off. I did manage one communication that I am quite proud of. A woman who left
the salon right after we arrived, returned. Alejandra had done a manicure for
her, and she had smudged a couple of her nails right after leaving. So Alejandra
worked to fix her nails and give me a pedicure at the same time. Vicky was
sitting in a chair at the other end of the salon. She texted me and asked me to
tell Alejandra that she wanted the same color polish as that woman had. I mustered
my limited Spanish and told Alejandra that when she was done, my friend wanted
that color. I pointed at the nail polish bottle as I spoke. Alejandra nodded. A
few minutes later after she put a second coat of the polish on the woman’s nails,
she called over the woman doing Vicky’s pedicure, handed her the bottle of
polish, pointed at Vicky, and said it was for her. Success!
A couple of weeks ago, several of the Teca Once missionaries
took the Deavers for their first visit to Lincoln Park. We had a hard time
getting a bus and it was a bit of a walk from where we got off the bus to the
park, so it was already dark when we got there. The Deavers told us they’d like
to go again and see it in daylight. Ron told Tom Deaver we’d found a Tony Roma’s
restaurant not far from there, and that clinched things. Friday evening, we and
the Deavers went back to Lincoln Park. It is a lovely park that is long and
narrow—a block wide and eight blocks long. It is in the Polanco neighborhood,
which is an upscale neighborhood with old colonial mansions that have been
turned into restaurants, embassies, and apartments. We walked around the park
and then through the neighborhood on our way to the restaurant. It didn’t take
Vicky long to figure out that it was a high-end shopping district when she saw
the names of the stores—Cartier, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, etc. On our way, we came
across a Talavera store. Talavera is a type of hand painted Mexican pottery
made in the Puebla area. There are less than twenty certified manufacturers in
that area, and authentic Talavera is only made there. The government regulates
its production, and manufacturers have to meet certain specifications to be
certified—one specification being that it is produced in that region. That is
because genuine Talavera is made from a specific combination of clays that are
only found in that region. We went in and had a blast looking at the lovely
pieces. When we visited Puebla last summer, we went to a factory store there,
and it turned out this store in Polanco was the same brand. They only have two
stores for that brand, and we’ve been to both. Genuine Talavera is expensive,
but Vicky has vowed that we will go back and buy at least one piece to take
home. I’d love to buy a ton of it, but shipping a ton of it home without any of
it breaking would be pretty tricky.
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| Believe it or not, Lincoln Park is named after Abraham Lincoln. |
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| It also has a statue of Martin Luther King. |
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| This fun statue is called "Happy Family." It sits outside Teatro Angela Perlata, an open air theater at one end of Lincoln Park. We Visited it when we were looking for a venue for Living Legends, and that is how we discovered Lincoln Park. |
Almost every Saturday morning we take a long walk. The route
we usually take goes through a park, which I have posted about before. Near the
end of the path in the park, we go through a forest area and up quite a few
stairs. At the top is a stone wall, which I have posted pictures of before. It
is not yet completed, and each week as we’ve walked there, we’ve watched it
slowly progress. We’ve admired the workmanship, and Ron has said he’d like to
meet the guy who is building it. This Saturday we were a little later than
normal for our walk. As we came through the forest area and started up the
stairs, we heard the sound of a rock being struck by a hammer. Sure enough,
when we reached the top, a man was there working on the wall. Ron went over to
talk to him and told him how much we have admired his craftsmanship. We had a
nice visit with him. Ron told him we did landscaping, so we know how much work
goes into a project like that. The man asked if he could work for us if he went
to the U.S. Ron told him we’ve retired and said he wouldn’t want to live where
we do anyway—it’s too cold. Ron keeps an eye on the weather forecast, and just
to keep me from feeling too homesick, everyday he tells me what the high and
low temperatures are for Shelley that day.
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| In this photo you can see the craftmanship of this wall and how long it is. |
One of the Zapataas granddaughters who lives in Mexico City
has a birthday in a few weeks. However, the Zapatas are going home to Merida the
end of January, so they had a birthday party for her Saturday evening. She said
she wanted all her “tias” and “tios” to come. Their grandchildren call all of
us senior missionaries their tias and tios—aunts and uncles. She was pretty smart
to request that, because of course we would all come and of course we would all
bring her gifts. It was fun watching a bunch of senior missionaries who are
missing their own grandchildren play with someone else’s. We taught them “Don’t
Eat Pete,” but we called it “No Comas Pedro.” We played musical chairs, a game that
was like “Follow the Leader,” and a game that was kind of like “Upset the Fruit
Basket.” For another game, we all put in one foot, and the birthday girl pointed
at our feet while saying a cute rhyme called “Zapatito Blanco, Zapatito Azul” (little
white shoe, little blue shoe.) It was kind of like “one potato, two potato.” Whoever’s
shoe she landed on had to either sing or dance. One time it landed on me. I was
about to sing, “You Are My Sunshine,” but everyone was chanting, “Dance, dance.”
Then they started doing it kind of sing song, so I just did a little free form
dance to their song and called it good. Ginny Zapata had made esquites, which I
love, and of course there was cake. It was fun evening. We are so blessed to have
found such fun friends here. We know not all missions are like this, and we are
grateful ours is.
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| Ron explaning how to play "No Comas Pedro." Little brother was only interested in the candy. |
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| "Zapatito Blanco, Zapatito Azul" |
Here's a video of "Musical Chairs" so you can get a feeling for the fun:
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