Sunday, June 13, 2010

Difference in Cultures

Okay, since these things are fresh on my mind I had to write them down. There are many things that we find so refreshing about the Mexican culture. These are some of our observations.

1.When Mexicans go out to dinner, they sit and are engaged in active conversation throughout the meal. While we were in the states we noticed that many times when we would be out to dinner that some Americans don't talk at all when they are out to dinner. If Mexicans didn't want to talk, they just wouldn't go out with each other. They don't fake their relationships.

2. When you go to a Mexican restaurant, count on it being VERY loud with lots of music and people chanting or singing or whatever they are moved to do at the time. They are festive and wide open! Very much like myself! :o) This is hard for my dear husband!

3. One thing we like is they put children first in restaurants. They have play places everywhere. I mean, Chilis, Outback, ( these restaurants are not near us, but they are in Mexico) just about any place that serves food has a play place. Even if it is just a swing set that they have fit inside their restaurant. This morning for breakfast we went to the hotel's breakfast buffet. They had the Disney channel on and they were giving all the children balloons. Most all restaurants serve children their food as soon as it is ready, even if the adult's food isn't ready for 10-15 more minutes. They feel that if the kids are happy everyone will be happy!

4. This is it for now, cuz I gotta  go. But, the service in Mexico is bar none fantastic! They treat everyone like they are royalty! They just do a great job of service when serving your food, cleaning your room, washing your car, whatever it is, they do it with a smile and do it well. They are happy to have a job and they do their jobs well! We could learn something from them! Me included! Have a Happy Sunday! Love, Missy

We're here!


Last night with my parents. We spent it at our favorite place...Chick-fil-a.
My sister, Meredith


My niece, Marissa

Mama Say and Honey

MamaSay and Annie


Alex and Mason (cousins)

The Last Supper. I tried the new Spicey Chicken Sandwich at Chick-fil-a and loved it. HOWEVER...
I ended up eating half of it and ordering a regular one because I wanted that to be my last taste! :o)
Honey and Annie at Chick-fil-a
The "M" House
The living room


The kids room
Adjoining room for me and Greg. Plus the maid. She was embarassed it wasn't cleaned for the photo.
Our family and everything we own, just about.

Annie was happy to see a friendly face, Aunt Sherry.
The road leaving Mexico City, notice the sign for Best Buy? The other one says, "Go Visa"

The toll roads are quite nice as you can see here.
This is the view from the road. Love my camera.
Greg was driving about 70 and I took that through my window!
When we visited Indiana last year, I loved visiting Amish country. Well, I must say,
I really loved seeing these sights today as well. A little different, but neat just the same.
I always thought that Mexico was dry and flat. As you
can see here we are surrounded by mountains and this is a huge lake.
This is how most homes are built in the cities.

In the cities you always see kids and adults doing all kinds
of things to earn money. This kid was dressed like a popular comedian and he was
juggling fire sticks. Anything for a few pesos.
I was trying to show a few things here. One was how everyone rides in the
back of pickups, even tiny babies. The other is that this is
just a two lane road. However this way of driving doesn't worry anyone.
Now those are chips and THAT is salsa! Oh, forget the main course,
I could have just eaten that and been happy! It was all natural!
Alex was happy with his Jamaica, a popular fruit juice made from a flower.

Jerod was happy with his freshly squeezed OJ!
A sign for sore eyes!
That's AMORE!! Pizza Hut here makes pizza better
than any pizza we have ever eaten. It is soooo good. Fresh and the crust
is good and fluffy and we could go on, but well, you have to eat it
to believe it!

These are called Que-papas. They are potatoes filled with cheese and jalepenos. They don't
serve them in the US, or not that we ever found. So, Alex and Jerod were
happy to see them delivered! We are enjoying our first night back. Please pray for a good transition.
We have a lot to do before we are settled back into our home. However, for now we
do have internet, so I will keep you updated as much as possible!



Yay! We made it! Chapter two has begun! I can't tell you how blessed we have been over the past two days! Everything has gone perfectly! I mean from the start of the days to the ending of the nights. God has been soooo good. We have never traveled with such ease as we did on Friday. We were blessed by perfect airport employees, perfect pilots, perfect weather, you name it, it was perfect!

We arrived in Mexico City yesterday and had a great night sleep at our company's house. They have a house set up for teams that come in or for people like us that come in and need a place to stay when they fly in. It is a wonderful resource for us to have. We are blessed! I often talk about this "M house" to people and decided I would include some photos so you could see where we stay when we fly into the country. Then we headed to a city that is near where we live. I have included pictures so you could see what we see when we travel to our home from Mexico City. (which is about 6 hours east of us) Some of you want to know what the roads are like, what the view is like and things of that nature, so I tried to capture that for you.

We stopped at a restaurant we have never eaten at before and were happy to see some familar sites. Ya know when we left the states it was all about food, now that we have arrived here, it is once again, all about food. I am hoping that after my first week back here The Biggest Loser doesn't try to recruit me. The last month has been brutal. But.....I have enjoyed every last brutal morsel! :o) I guess I will start trying to lose again after we re-aquaint ourselves with the familiar tastes! I am missing all of you but happy to be back where I know God has called us! Love you all!! Missy and family