Mexico – Page 22 – My Thought Spot

Information that is non-informative

It is very nice that in our town the running community is very active. We have a race (or two) every weekend here. Races are free or cheap (the most I have paid is $2.70 US for a race).

But getting race information seems to be a closely guarded secret. Though I have been to multiple races and have a few friends in the running community, I still have not found the secret as to how hundreds of people each week can show up for a race that does not advertise.

Yesterday I found out there was a race going on only because, as I was driving around town, I got stopped by the police escort to allow the runners to go past.

There was a message written Friday which was on the running community mailing list. It said, “I read that the PGR race is tomorrow, but I also heard that Sunday is the FALCO race. Can someone confirm that?”

The reply: “You have the information correct.”

What kind of help is that? What on earth does PGR mean? FALCO? That says nothing about when nor where these races are except that they are on Saturday and Sunday.

I have been told over and over that “all” the racing community information can be found on a physical bulletin board at one of the stadiums in town. Fortunately it is the stadium where I have my football practice and I often run there when I need a shady running spot. So I pass by the bulletin board many times a week. I have been looking over the last few weeks at races. The most recent race information was a hand written note. In essence it said “The (I don’t remember the initials, but perhaps it was the FALCO race) FALCO race will be held.” No time, place nor date information on the note. It was assumed that everyone would know the details.

The most recent marathon run here in town I did not even know about it until the following day. How do you have only 2 marathons a year and have total lack of advertisement? The race directors lamented about it last year because there were so few people who ran. I can take a guess as to why. Marathons need to be advertised heavily a year in advance. This gives people time to plan for them. This particular marathon is a yearly event. But for people who are new to racing or new to the area (they expect our city population to double within 6 years!), need to know about these annual events even though the regulars already know about them.

As active as the running community is, they sure do a poor job of putting on races.

The Ugly American

I am not directly talking about the book that started the term, I am talking about the ugly ones themselves. Not all Americans are ugly. But they certainly aren’t all pretty and handsome either.

Physical attractiveness aside, the term “ugly American” refers to someone from the USA who goes to another country and takes no care or concern for the culture in which they are visiting. The Wikipedia article on the subject says:

More often, stories of the “ugly American” abound largely out of tourists who make little to no effort to understand the nations they are visiting, or even the idea that the world doesn’t revolve around the United States. Said examples can include an American woman in Paris yelling at a department store clerk for refusing to accept American currency and the “ridiculous idea” that the clerk will only accept French Francs as payment.

I could give example after example of the stereotypical ugly American in just my experiences over the last couple of years. I could fill a page full of blog postings with just examples from the last 24 hours!

One thing that never ceases to amaze me is people’s absolute inability to see that they are being the ugly American. They take no interest in the people around them. They do not have any clue that the reason they stand out like a sore thumb is not because their skin color is different or that they talk differently, but because they do not even attempt to look or act like the locals.

At the restaurant tonight there was a CD player that had several disks sitting beside it. The worker had put on a CD and walked away. One young man said he would go over and change the disk and if the lady asked why he did it he would just respond with, “I’m sorry. I’m an American.” His point would be that she would have to forgive him because he not only is not a local, but that he is an American and he felt entitled to do whatever he wanted.

A young, American, lady asked me tonight if wearing “flip-flops” to church on Sunday would be appropriate, or if she had to wear heels. I am not the leader of the group and therefore did not know what the policy set forth had been (I hope there has been one by either the church group leader or the missionary who is hosting the group). Therefore, I did not want to give a definitive answer. I told her that there would be many (most) of the ladies wearing flip-flops on Sunday, but that it would be appropriate (and proper) to wear nicer shoes if they were available. She responded with, “then if they are going to wear flip-flops, I will too.” While this sounds like deference to the locals, she (though I tried to explain to her) did not understand that the reason the locals wear what they wear is because that is all they can afford. But no one would see it as inappropriate for someone to wear nicer shoes.

Here is where the disconnect comes. This young lady is concerned about fitting in on Sunday for church by dressing down as much as possible, but has no care for dressing more appropriately at other times. While asking these questions to me, she was wearing a pair of very small shorts and tight spaghetti strap top. In the city where I live, you will almost never see a Mexican lady quite scantily clad. This is going to sound harsh, but it is a true statement and strives to prove my point. Even the prostitutes here wear more clothes than that.

“I give no notice, or care, to trying to dress appropriately at any other time, but yet I don’t want to wear nice shoes on Sunday for church if the others will be wearing flip-flops.” Do you see a problem with that thinking?

Outside of the “ugly Americanism” is one other issue I would just like to touch on. Whatever happened to Christian young people looking different from the world?

I was standing in the walkway out front of a store waiting for the group to emerge. In the mean time another group walked up. Obviously Americans; you can pick them out easily when you know in which ways Americans stereotypically are ugly. I thought that they certainly were not a church group. They must just be a group of high school graduate friends vacationing in Mexico. I based this solely on what they were wearing and how they acted.

Then out steps the group that I am with. I saw little to no difference in the way they were dressed or acted. Now I am not convinced that the other group of older teens were not here on a missions trip as well.

Busy day doing nothing

Here is a sample of the way things go around here.

I have needed to get with someone this week on a mutually beneficial project. Monday didn’t work and Tuesday was wasted all day trying to call him. No answer. This morning I finally got in contact with him. He was going to be leaving right then and could not meet until 2:00.

I was supposed to pick up my truck from the headliner repair shop at 12:00. I called to check on it. He said it would be ready at 4:00, but to call him at 3:00 to make sure. I have to be driving away from there at 4:00 for my evening appointments.

About 5 minutes before 2:00 (and my 2:00 appointment) I got an emergency call to help someone with a problem. Not something that could be put off. So I called my 2:00 appointment and said I could be there at 3:00. 3:00 was not good for him, he suggested 3:45. 3:45 won’t work for me, but 3:30 might. So he was going to try and be available at 3:30.

It is now 3:00. I just called the headliner guy. He won’t have the truck ready by 4:00 (by the way, originally it was to be done by 5:00 yesterday). The nature of the emergency at 2:00 was such that I MUST have the truck tonight at 4:00. So I told the headliner guy to put the truck enough back together that I can use it this evening and I will bring it back to him in the morning.

So now, my 3:30 appointment will have to be canceled so that I can go get the truck at 4:00. I have to be driving out of the shop at 4:00. 5 minutes late will mess up my 4:30 appointment. Which will throw off my 5:00 appointment. Fortunately, that won’t affect my 7:30 appointment.

Starting tomorrow at noon, my truck will be pressed into service for the next 7 days for about 16 hours a day. Thus the need to have this work done before tomorrow at noon. Also, my original 2:00 appointment will now have to be rescheduled between now and Sunday afternoon. I am very flexible, but I won’t know more than 2 hours in advance what my free time will be over the next few days. The person I need to meet with is much less flexible. He likes to have things scheduled in writing a week in advance. He is really going to hate when I call him at 3:30 and tell him that I cannot meet today because he rescheduled things to make 3:30 work.

Are you confused yet?

So basically I have spent all day trying to do 2 things. I have accomplished neither one. And, furthermore, they will not be done before this day is out.

The Peach Preaching Team

Last night we went to a church that we had visited once before. This is the church where the landlord of our house attends. Our church services end earlier than most on Sundays afternoons, therefore we can visit other churches.

When we visited before, the church had asked if I would preach last night. I was glad to do so. The service went well.

After we got all packed up and ready to head home, I asked our 9 year old son how his class went. He said that he could not be an honest judge of that since he was the one who taught the class. They had someone in charge of the kids, but the teacher asked James if he would teach the class for the evening. So he did. He taught on the 10 plagues in Egypt. A story he had read earlier that day while reading his Bible.

He said that was the first time that has ever happened. He was a bit nervous.

I guess we are a preaching team now.

Truck repairs

My Suburban Been busy the last 2 days. I actually had work to do and projects to get done. Well, really I always have work and projects. I just don’t always do them.

I am getting ready for a couple of big trips and my time at home is getting limited. I have been visiting different mechanics to be able to get my truck in for some work. It is always best to get an appointment and show up 30 minutes before the place is supposed to open so that you might actually get the vehicle back within 2 days of their projected deadline. I spent Thursday morning running to the different places and am getting them lined up for next week.

Depending on how the first place goes, I should be able to get it all done next week before a group comes in on Thursday. At that point, I will not be able to have work done before the end of the month.

Monday is a trip to the air conditioner shop. These people installed an A/C last summer before our big trip to camp. On the way north the A/C blew out. On the way South the compressor locked up and melted our belt. Fortunately we had just pulled over for the night and were in a town where we could get the work done. They just replaced the compressor with a pulley and got us back on the road.

This all happened within 3 weeks of having the brand new compressor put on.

We got back into town and I wanted a new compressor. Isn’t that what a guarantee is for? They opted to rebuild. That was definitely not my preference, but as long as it was fixed I was fine with it. Over the course of the next 2 months I was in and out of the A/C place 4 or 5 times. I got tired of it and just lived with a sub-par performing A/C until this year. The end of April the A/C, as poor as it was, completely died and seized up.

I went in to the A/C place yesterday to tell the guy I was ready to spread his sorry name across town unless he did something to sway me. He has one chance this next week to get it right. I also learned yesterday that there is a form of the Better Business Bureau here. I think it is run by the mafia. The story I got was that you complain about a company. They dig up what dirt they can on the company and threaten to expose them to the authorities for tax evasion, or whatever, and then you get your problem fixed magically. I may visit them and see how well they work.

After the A/C gets fixed, I will have the headliner in the truck replaced. It is a Suburban with a lot of wooden customization installed. So there are a lot of parts to take off and put back in place. The job will cost $110. I think that is fair. I have done this type of work before. It will probably cost about $80 in materials. I can pay someone $30 to do the work that I don’t want to do. I don’t always have more money than time, but this time I do.

Hopefully this will all be done by Thursday afternoon.

There is something going on with my fuel delivery. I will work on that as soon as I get back from California. I am afraid it is the fuel pump. That will require me to pull off the gas tank. Yikes!