Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Mi casa es loco!

Well this last span of time has been crazy and busy all wrapped into one never ending day it seems.

But in this short time I have had some experiences that truly show me where I am in the world.

On Sunday I went to Carls Jr. and got my 99cent chicken sandwich and a cup of water. Well I got my number and went to fill my cup and noticed something at the soda dispenser. The little tab that comes out of the tea or lemonade was labled in spanish~agua. Now I have seen this before but usually one will say water and another tab will say agua. This situation only one tab was availiable. I guess everyone is presumed semi bilingual here. This was picture worthy for me, but my camera would not cooperate.

My second experience was a little awakening as to my geogrphic location. I have been told, and looked slightly at the map, but had not realized how close I was to Mexico until yesterday. Our whole managment team drove to visit our studs and drywall store yesterday. Our district manager had mentioned that you can see the border from our mall and our Trainer did not believe. So, as we are all piled in to her rental car, she was determined to find it. At the mall's corner intersection we looked right and to her amazment that same road about 3 miles up the hill was the border crossing. this road has absolutly nothing developed around it as of yet so it is a clear path. You can see it! I live only 1 mile from this said intersection at my mall so it is pretty eye opening for me too. People will litterally be driving straight up the road from mexico to my mall.

Today could have just been a "cultural thing" or a stupid mom but boy it was shocking. I rode the trolly into downtown San Diego to buy train tickets for this weekend. My trip was sucessful, and completed quicker than I expected. I had splurged the extra 50 cents to get an all day pass so I decided to poke around the neighborhood a bit hopping on and off the trolly.
Well, as I got off at the city college I was suddenly horrified. I had just stepped onto the sidewalk and as I passed some people boarding I saw a baby strapped into an umbrella stroller being held by one handle bobbing behind this woman in a very precarious manner as the lady got in. The little girl was flipping and I was amazed at how trusting they were with the flimsy fabric as a restraint and safety device for their kid. I could not beleive that an adult would do such a thing. The saddest part was I immediatly thought, "That is why they make you take your kids outta the strollers for the Disney parking tram!" I guess I will never get away from Disney in my head. Now this trolly was much higher than the tram, the actual height of the inner seating area of the trolly is about 5 feet high. That little girl dangled as she was bumped up into the cab. Not exactly mom of the year.

Yeah Kinda lame experiences I am sure but they will be things I remeber as my integration into a new world continues.

WOW, life is different.

No comments: