Random thoughts about Mexico #3
Monday was awesome. It was actually a big adventure for me, at least! It was our work day. Everyone had different things to do. I never thought mine would be as much of an adventure as it turned out to be!
The Chains let this one lady set up her empanada stand in their driveway every morning. Mr. Chain had the idea of painting a big sign for the stand on the outer wall, and Jackie, Lane and I volunteered. So at about 10:00, we put on sunscreen and old clothes, and went outside to see what we could do. Well, some other people were painting the walls, so we had to wait for them to get done and for the paint to dry before we could get started painting ourselves. But we filled up that hour—we talked to the lady who ran the stand to find out what she wanted, drew out a plan for the sign, and walked down the block with Daniel Chain to get some paint. The lady made us an empanada so we could paint one on the sign. It was awesome, while we were sitting around outside planning everything out, Eddie and Mark Chain were working on the pickup nearby, and they had Switchfoot's Meant to Live album blasting out the speakers. That is one of my absolute favorite cds in the world! And cooler than that, that cd always has reminded me of Mexico ever since I first started going last year, especially the song "This is Your Life." So it was awesome to hear it actually while we were IN Mexico! We all sang along.
Finally it was our turn to paint! We had to paint pretty high up the wall, so we used this scaffold. It was a little freaky. The board on top was really old and had almost rotted through in places. We made sure to always spread out our weight, and some spots we avoided altogether. It wasn't very wide, so it was very weird trying to switch places! At least we could lean against the wall for support. Fortunately, I'm not scared of heights (just falling, lol! There IS a difference, I think!), so after I got my balance I was fine.
First we drew our design on the wall in pencil. We stopped midway through this for a quick lunch, then got right back to work. I had a feeling then that we probably wouldn't get our siesta that day, and I was right. I guess that needs some explaining. At about 2:30 or so in Mexico, shops and everything just close down for a few hours because it's so hot. Last year we always just kicked back and relaxed—and maybe even took a nap—in the hammocks on the breezeway (on the top floor of the mission). But I remembered one time last year when Jackie, Sara and I painted a mural. It took us forever, and we didn't get a siesta that day—we got done just in time to go get ready to go out to a village and do our program. So, I braced myself for no siesta. It wasn't that bad, it was actually a lot of fun. Serving God is fun, even when it is tough work, and our work was a kind that I was very satisfied with doing, lol!
Well, it ended up taking us 5 1/2 hours. Part of it was just because all three of us are HUGE perfectionists when it comes to art. We would paint something over once, then one of us (usually me) would go back over it and slowly... carefully... paint around the edges and make them smooth. Very tedious work, but strangely satisfying. We wanted to— we HAD to have it perfect, or as close to perfect as possible.
We each brought our own strengths to the project, and it worked really well! Lane is great at lettering, so she penciled in most of the lettering, and also filled a lot in with paint. Jackie is a REALLY amazing painter (as I'm sure you all know) so she spent most of her time working on the empanada. It turned out WONDERFUL!!!! It looked good enough to eat, lol! My strengths are just a little here and there, so I sort of did random things where needed—a little lettering here, and a LOT of painting, mostly making the edges straight.
It was funny, at about 2 or 3 pm Sara, Kevin and Zac got done with whatever work they were doing, so they decided to come watch us and be our "go-fers." They went to Super David's and got us drinks (my Cristal Manzana was sooooo refreshing out in the heat). I REALLY appreciated it! And they decided to be our entertainment, lol. They did a pretty good job. I was glad they were out there.
It must have been an interesting sight: 3 obviously non-Mexican girls standing on a 6-foot-tall scaffold painting an empanada and a bunch of letters on the side of the building, right by a main street. It was sometimes not that fun for us, though. We finally started counting how many offensive gestures were made towards us (they were offensive to us, I mean—catcalls, whoops, shouts, and other degrading things.). We stopped counting a few hours later—the numbers were too depressing, lol. It made me really mad. Next time that happens here in the US I'll just be thankful, because I know people do it a LOT more in Mexico, so it could be worse. :(
At about 4:45, we were getting near the end when we noticed the dark clouds rolling in. Oh great. Our paint was water-based and Mr. Chain had warned us that the paint would run if it started raining! So we worked as quickly as we could, still trying to satisfy our perfectionistic inclinations. It was frustrating. It was getting darker by the minute and we were starting to panic. As Lane and I were painting the last few letters, the first few raindrops came. By that time, there were a few more people down on the ground watching (beats me why—we were soooo slow they might as well have tried watching the grass grow!). A few of the guys ran to try and find a tarp. All of a sudden, at about 5 pm, the clouds opened up. I felt like breaking down into tears and laughing insanely all at once as I stood on top of the scaffold in the rain, trying to physically shield the wet paint as Lane still tried to paint the final letter. What we had worked on all day... what we had put so much of ourselves into, with so much care, with so much precision on each inch, each centimeter... our service to God... would it really get destroyed? I told God that if that was what he wanted, I'd be fine with that—after all, it was His project and we'd done it for Him, so it was His to use or destroy in His own wisdom. So I felt peaceful.
The cold rain felt really good after being under the scorching sun all day.
Within a few very long seconds someone handed me a plastic bag, or sheet, I'm still not quite sure what it was. I pressed one side to the wall above the wet paint, and it actually stopped the flow of rain, mostly. Lane finished the letter. It was done! I still felt like I was going to laugh or cry, or both. All of a sudden Kevin and Caleb climbed up with a big tarp. They stood on either side of the scaffold and held it over me as I tossed the plastic sheet down to the ground, then knelt and carefully smoothed away the running paint, over and over as it came. It was amazing—only a few letters were running (the ones we had just finished painting), and that was IT!! Mr. Chain had been sure that the whole thing would be ruined! I realized that God really was protecting it. After what seemed like forever, the guys got part of the tarp up over the wall, so it could hang there by itself and really stop the flow of rain onto the sign. We all carefully climbed down from the scaffolding, the rain still pouring. I was thoroughly soaked, and thoroughly happy.
So that was our Monday adventure. :)
If you'd like to see a picture of the finished sign, go here: http://homepage.mac.com/kvmagruder/.Pictures/Photo%20Album%20Pictures/2005-06-19%2018.16.54%20-0700/Image-A361BC3EE12511D9.jpg
The Chains let this one lady set up her empanada stand in their driveway every morning. Mr. Chain had the idea of painting a big sign for the stand on the outer wall, and Jackie, Lane and I volunteered. So at about 10:00, we put on sunscreen and old clothes, and went outside to see what we could do. Well, some other people were painting the walls, so we had to wait for them to get done and for the paint to dry before we could get started painting ourselves. But we filled up that hour—we talked to the lady who ran the stand to find out what she wanted, drew out a plan for the sign, and walked down the block with Daniel Chain to get some paint. The lady made us an empanada so we could paint one on the sign. It was awesome, while we were sitting around outside planning everything out, Eddie and Mark Chain were working on the pickup nearby, and they had Switchfoot's Meant to Live album blasting out the speakers. That is one of my absolute favorite cds in the world! And cooler than that, that cd always has reminded me of Mexico ever since I first started going last year, especially the song "This is Your Life." So it was awesome to hear it actually while we were IN Mexico! We all sang along.
Finally it was our turn to paint! We had to paint pretty high up the wall, so we used this scaffold. It was a little freaky. The board on top was really old and had almost rotted through in places. We made sure to always spread out our weight, and some spots we avoided altogether. It wasn't very wide, so it was very weird trying to switch places! At least we could lean against the wall for support. Fortunately, I'm not scared of heights (just falling, lol! There IS a difference, I think!), so after I got my balance I was fine.
First we drew our design on the wall in pencil. We stopped midway through this for a quick lunch, then got right back to work. I had a feeling then that we probably wouldn't get our siesta that day, and I was right. I guess that needs some explaining. At about 2:30 or so in Mexico, shops and everything just close down for a few hours because it's so hot. Last year we always just kicked back and relaxed—and maybe even took a nap—in the hammocks on the breezeway (on the top floor of the mission). But I remembered one time last year when Jackie, Sara and I painted a mural. It took us forever, and we didn't get a siesta that day—we got done just in time to go get ready to go out to a village and do our program. So, I braced myself for no siesta. It wasn't that bad, it was actually a lot of fun. Serving God is fun, even when it is tough work, and our work was a kind that I was very satisfied with doing, lol!
Well, it ended up taking us 5 1/2 hours. Part of it was just because all three of us are HUGE perfectionists when it comes to art. We would paint something over once, then one of us (usually me) would go back over it and slowly... carefully... paint around the edges and make them smooth. Very tedious work, but strangely satisfying. We wanted to— we HAD to have it perfect, or as close to perfect as possible.
We each brought our own strengths to the project, and it worked really well! Lane is great at lettering, so she penciled in most of the lettering, and also filled a lot in with paint. Jackie is a REALLY amazing painter (as I'm sure you all know) so she spent most of her time working on the empanada. It turned out WONDERFUL!!!! It looked good enough to eat, lol! My strengths are just a little here and there, so I sort of did random things where needed—a little lettering here, and a LOT of painting, mostly making the edges straight.
It was funny, at about 2 or 3 pm Sara, Kevin and Zac got done with whatever work they were doing, so they decided to come watch us and be our "go-fers." They went to Super David's and got us drinks (my Cristal Manzana was sooooo refreshing out in the heat). I REALLY appreciated it! And they decided to be our entertainment, lol. They did a pretty good job. I was glad they were out there.
It must have been an interesting sight: 3 obviously non-Mexican girls standing on a 6-foot-tall scaffold painting an empanada and a bunch of letters on the side of the building, right by a main street. It was sometimes not that fun for us, though. We finally started counting how many offensive gestures were made towards us (they were offensive to us, I mean—catcalls, whoops, shouts, and other degrading things.). We stopped counting a few hours later—the numbers were too depressing, lol. It made me really mad. Next time that happens here in the US I'll just be thankful, because I know people do it a LOT more in Mexico, so it could be worse. :(
At about 4:45, we were getting near the end when we noticed the dark clouds rolling in. Oh great. Our paint was water-based and Mr. Chain had warned us that the paint would run if it started raining! So we worked as quickly as we could, still trying to satisfy our perfectionistic inclinations. It was frustrating. It was getting darker by the minute and we were starting to panic. As Lane and I were painting the last few letters, the first few raindrops came. By that time, there were a few more people down on the ground watching (beats me why—we were soooo slow they might as well have tried watching the grass grow!). A few of the guys ran to try and find a tarp. All of a sudden, at about 5 pm, the clouds opened up. I felt like breaking down into tears and laughing insanely all at once as I stood on top of the scaffold in the rain, trying to physically shield the wet paint as Lane still tried to paint the final letter. What we had worked on all day... what we had put so much of ourselves into, with so much care, with so much precision on each inch, each centimeter... our service to God... would it really get destroyed? I told God that if that was what he wanted, I'd be fine with that—after all, it was His project and we'd done it for Him, so it was His to use or destroy in His own wisdom. So I felt peaceful.
The cold rain felt really good after being under the scorching sun all day.
Within a few very long seconds someone handed me a plastic bag, or sheet, I'm still not quite sure what it was. I pressed one side to the wall above the wet paint, and it actually stopped the flow of rain, mostly. Lane finished the letter. It was done! I still felt like I was going to laugh or cry, or both. All of a sudden Kevin and Caleb climbed up with a big tarp. They stood on either side of the scaffold and held it over me as I tossed the plastic sheet down to the ground, then knelt and carefully smoothed away the running paint, over and over as it came. It was amazing—only a few letters were running (the ones we had just finished painting), and that was IT!! Mr. Chain had been sure that the whole thing would be ruined! I realized that God really was protecting it. After what seemed like forever, the guys got part of the tarp up over the wall, so it could hang there by itself and really stop the flow of rain onto the sign. We all carefully climbed down from the scaffolding, the rain still pouring. I was thoroughly soaked, and thoroughly happy.
So that was our Monday adventure. :)
If you'd like to see a picture of the finished sign, go here: http://homepage.mac.com/kvmagruder/.Pictures/Photo%20Album%20Pictures/2005-06-19%2018.16.54%20-0700/Image-A361BC3EE12511D9.jpg
posted by Rachel @ 9:14 PM
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