Trip to Fish Lake; featuring Baby Annika

Seven Peaks

Pictures from the Weekend

Pics at Fish Lake, Michael bored at a photo shoot, Becky and Buddy

Viva Mexico!

To keep things short-er, I can't explain everything about my trip, for even though I was only there for 11 days there's so much that I was able to observe, experience, and learn! So I'll just let you in on what we did there and how we did it, and hopefully that'll be enough to keep you from falling asleep while reading this :)

I was able to go on this trip with a wonderful group of about 20 people led by Neil Millman and his wife Margarita. We represented Neil's foundation, called Love at Work, and we spend most of our time doing dental work, first for the street kids living at the shelter (called "The Ecuador House") and then for some of the members of the church in the area. There were three Dentists that went down (including Margarita, who is a certified Pediatric Dentist, but only in Mexico) and one of the other two dentists knows Uncle Gordon (he served with him in the Military and is still his dentist). There were also 3 dental students from Ohio State, and many Pre-Dental Students. And ME. :) We first set up a makeshift clinic in the shelter and tried to make things as sanitary as possible, and most of my job was to keep things sanitary. But I also got to do some dental work, which was fun. I did one filling, gave someone some anesthesia in their mouth, and polished some teeth :) But I still don't have any desire to be a dentist. They wear those masks for a reason, and it still doesn't quite guard against nice, pungent breath.

Since dental work is a bit slow and laborious, I often had a chance to relax and try talking to people who were waiting. I was surprised at what I could say and understand, but I still wish I had been fluent before I went so I could talk to people at a deeper level. The kids living at the shelter have incredibly complex pasts, and I admired their persistence at trying to live a better live, to reach their potential. They were the lowest of the low, often given to drugs (which mostly consisted of sniffing hardware glue), prostitution, and crime. But the kids at the Ecuador House were really trying to change their lives, and only wanted to feel as though they were no longer rejected by society. I was able to play UNO with one of the boys, and I guess that meant we were dating since he was asking for me as his "novia" the next day :) He's the one with the shirt raised. I know how to pick 'em, huh?

In the evening and weekends we experienced what we could (time and money-wise) of Mexico City. We went to Garibaldi the first night and were serenaded by many different Mariachi bands all in a one-block square. There were vendors that came by and I paid one money to be electrically shocked until I could stand it. I almost won... :) We visited the Pyramids at Teotihuacan for a day and my little group got stuck in a huge thunderstorm before we could get back to the rest of the group (they were smart enough to have found shelter already). Usually rain wouldn't be a problem at all for me, and I still enjoyed it immensely, it's just, well....I was wearing white... We also visited the Zocalo, the main square in Mexico City, and it was on the way home that we had to ride the metros during rush hour, and men and women were being separated because of problems that ensue with the combination of close proximity and dirty-minded men. Luckily both I and the other girl were protected by a wall of large Americans, so we were fine, but it was still making me nervous. On our last weekend we got to attend Lucha Libre! (like in Nacho Libre--it's like primitive WWF). The fights were pretty ridiculous, with men pretending to slap each other while wearing tight shiny pants and masks. Oh so manly.

Although Mexico City is a dangerous place, I felt very safe almost the entire time I was there, and I think it was because of where we stayed and the people we were with. We were fortunate to be able to stay at the Temple dormitories on the grounds of the Mexico City Temple, which dorms also happen to house the missionaries at the MTC (which was also within Temple grounds). Usually it is required that we do a session a day at the Temple if we stay in the dorms, but unfortunately the Temple was closed for renovation (to make it more earthquake safe).They had great security systems and the people there were so nice and helpful. It was a great refuge from the city, and I was glad to stay there. We ate breakfast almost every morning at the MTC cafeteria (after the Missionaries ate of course) and most days that consisted of beans and eggs and BOING! juice (just a brand name). We got french toast one day, though. :)

The food was good in general, and while other people had some...issues....with the food, I didn't seem to have a problem with it. I had the best burrito ever at El Taco Loco and I also got to try some homemade Tamales and rice-milk (Horchata). But by the time we neared the end of our trip we became desperate for American food and sought refuge one day at the Pizza Hut. It was heaven.

I can't think of what else to tell you without making this 20 pages longer, so I hope this is a good taste of what I got to experience in Mexico City. Thank you, mom and dad, for paying for it. I really do appreciate the opportunity. Everything was so fast paced and adventurous and I loved every minute of it! :) Love you!