Little Mexico

So... the day after backpacking I headed off on a mission trip with the church group to a Los Embajadores site. This is the group we usually make the Mexico mission trips with. However, with the way things are along the border these days, they've decided that it's too dangerous to take other people's kids down there. So they started a program last year in Woodburn, Oregon. There is a very large farm worker/migrant population there. Old Town Woodburn even looks much like Mexico with all the shops and eateries and signs in Spanish. Except there's toilet paper and you can drink the water.

There were 17 high school kids and 3 chaperones. (One of the chaperones was Sharon Stevenson from OLS--we had a fun time together.) We slept on the floor of an office in an apartment complex built specifically to house farm workers and their families.

We spent most mornings working at a construction site near PCUN (which is a farm workers' union and service organization) which will house several different service agencies when it is finished. They also have a radio station there. (Some of the kids went on the air on a talk show one day.) They are building a "passive energy" building mostly on volunteer labor. Then in the afternoons we went to a community center in another apartment complex similar to the one we were staying in. They have a community center there and an activities program for the local kids similar to Portland Parks & Rec's summer programs. Complete with free lunch, which is what we ate every day, lol!!! (The boys had a chicken nugget eating contest one day with the leftovers. The results were not pretty...)

Then before dinner we had presentations on various issues such as agricultural work issues, immigration and border issues, etc. Then we'd have a fabulous dinner prepared for us by some local women at PCUN! Then in the evenings we had more presentations, discussions, etc, and also some fun time. Went swimming at the local pool (only place we could find to get a shower!), listened to a mariachi band in the park one night, went to the fireworks show in another park, and went out for ice cream at a Mexican nieveria. (I had one dip of Sweet Corn ice cream and one of Mexican chocolate... YUM!)

The most interesting and hard day was when we went to spend a day in the fields! The kids were saying how it would be so much fun to work in the fields picking berries and such. So the program coordinator said well, that could be arranged! Berry picking didn't work out, though, as strawberries were just finished and blueberries hadn't started yet. So we went to St. Josef's winery and pruned grapevines a good part of the day! I found it very interesting. But boy were we sore afterwards, as it was kind of like doing squats for 6 hours straight!!!

On Friday night we went to a party/discussion group/open mike night at PCUN. Javier (one of the guys that worked there and a frequent speaker and runs the radio station) made ceviche with tofu instead of fish that was FABULOUS!! It was the biggest pot of ceviche imaginable!! Erubiel (in charge of the construction) played the guitar, a song that he had written in honor of the last Space Shuttle flight. Then one of Javier's friends named Rudolfo taught us some Merenge dancing, which was fun but pretty hilarious. Especially as everyone was really sore and some of the moves would have all of us groaning at the same time! Then Javier's son tried to teach us some traditional Mexican dancing (he's like 11 years old and actually dances professionally). That was REALLY hilarious as he is like 11 going on 35 and was REALLY trying to be positive and encouraging even as we were obviously failing miserably. It's kind of like Irish dancing with much fancy footwork.

Anyway, it was a great week. Got home about midnight Friday, then out the door at a bit after 4am to head to the Kent, Washington dragon boat race!! Weather was beautiful, and I ended up racing on two teams. The Bridge City Gold women's team was in need of a few more paddlers. Gold is their recreational team, Blue is their competitive team. (Blue was full of women who all look like Jill Marie, Heather's old amazingly fit swim coach.) No medals, but we came very close to one in the women's division!

Sunday we mostly had a lazy day puttering about the house. The weather has been beautiful this week. About 80 and sunny most of the time. Summer might actually be here soon!! We went to church, then stopped at a farmer's market in the Woodstock area. Got a bunch of veggies, and some of the last of the Oregon strawberries (which I am about to turn into strawberry/raspberry/rhubarb pie). Spent the afternoon in the back yard doing things like shelling peas and hanging laundry out to dry. Made a big stir fry for dinner out of some of the veggies. Oh, I now have some corn growing along with my pumpkins. Either the squirrels or jays have been taking corn out of the feeder and burying it, and some started growing in one of my newly started flower areas. So I just transplanted them to the raised beds. We'll see if the growing season is long enough to get any corn!

BTW, Heather-- as I am writing I am munching on Choc-kits and drinking some kind of wine from South Africa that has a cheetah on the label, lol!

Let's see... any other news...? Hiked up Mt. Tabor with Natalie this morning despite my still sore leg muscles. Bought "event chairs" today (the short sand chair type of folding chairs) for going to Trek in the Park next weekend and a Peter Frampton concert next month! Lindsay and Sawyer's wedding is this coming Saturday, which I will leave the Highland Games a bit early for. Jaxom will be visiting from Arizona, so Therese and I will be at the Games with the boys. Well, not Nick as he is Lindsay's "Man of Honor" so will be occupied with wedding stuff all day, lol! Eli is supposed to leave to the Navy on July 26th, I believe. Nora is supposed to get her nun's habit and a new nun name on July 27th. I don't think there's much else to share, and I'm rather tired of removing Sophie from the keyboard so I think I shall wrap this up. Adios!