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Published: February 23rd 2009
Saturday
So we couldnt stand to stay in the Hogar for a WHOLE Saturday without doing anything useful or interesting as we didnt have to do anything with the 11 kids who were here over the weekend, so Alix and I decided to get ourselves a bus into town and do some more exploring!
We hadnt even made it 10 metres down the road before we got our first surprise...yes there was a van with a big tiger in it just driving down the street, then it stopped outside the pharmacy next door. So random I had to take a photo!!
We then caught the bus...rather nervously...to the city centre. We had to wander around quite a lot once we got there, as we werent exactly sure where we'd got off (we just did when everyone else did!) but soon enough we recognised some streets and managed to make our way to the Cathedral! The men were already annoying us with their silly whistling and silly comments! I heard one guy say "What's up girl" in English when we walked past, then I turned round and it was some old man! Yuck!! The comments dont annoy me too
much, got used to just ignoring being stared at etc in China!
We went inside the cathedral, which isn't actually as big as it looks from the outside! It's not as long as the ones in Spain and it looks a lot less old - freshly painted and statues in glass boxes etc etc! I'm not actually sure how old it is! I prefered the one in Jaen in Spain anyway!!
The centre of Guadalajara is really very beatiful, the buildings all look very grand, and it's really clean with lots of trees and fountains and things - WAY nicer than Mexico city! It was pretty busy considering it was a saturday, and also really warm (as usual) with hardly a cloud in the sky! (jealous much!)
We had read in our lonely planet guide that if we walked east from the cathedral for a while we'd find a big square which has weird chairs that are made of bronze but look like distorted people, so of course off we went in search of them! BUT not only did we find the square, but also hundreds of scouts with bags and bags of used cans!!! They were putting
all the cans on the ground to make the shape of a massive trefoil! I thought it was pretty cool, and there I had been telling Megan that I didnt even know what we were supposed to think about on thinking day!!!! :D!!! We found the crazy chairs too - I LOVE them!! I wont bother writing about them as the pictures say it all I think!! (p.s notice my lack of sunburn!!! woot!)
Our next stop was the Mercado Libertad, which Guadalajarans claim is the biggest covered market in the world and WOW its enormous!!! We spent at least an hour and a half wandering around looking at stuff, everything from Guadalajara t-shirts to leather horse saddles, from cheap dvds to fresh vegetables! etc etc etc. The place has three floors and just goes on forever!!! would be easy to spend an entire day in there checking it all out if it wasnt so annoying having every male stall owner telling you to 'come over here beautiful!'. We'll be going back there once we've worked out what we actually want to buy from guadalajara!!!!!
Behind the market is the 'Plaza de los Mariachis' (Guadalajara is apparently where
Mariachi was born) but unfortunately it was still only the afternoon and they only really start playing after dark so we didnt get to hear any! And then around the corner what should be find but a McDonalds!!! And yes of course we did eat there!!! We werent in the mood for looking for somewhere mexican to eat and its ages since we had western food without tortillas soooo we ate there and it was great (except the random man who came up to the window right next to us and just looked at us for about 15 seconds!! WEIRD!!)
After that we didnt really want to wander more as we didnt know our way around and didnt want to get lost in back streets and not be able to find the bus stop again, so we went back through the market, past the hundreds of scouts (now tidying up the cans, we missed the finished thing!) and to the cathedral. We were just walking past another building to go back to the bus but we noticed there were people going in, so we asked the guards if we could go in, even though we didnt know what the
building was. Turns out it's like the town council building which has some huge murals in it! I dont know if you can see from the pictures I put up just how big the murals are. The one of a pissed off looking Hidalgo covered the entire roof of a staircase, and the other one was above the council room!!! Very very impressive, and quite a coincidence that we happened to find it as we'd seen it in the Lonely Planet but couldnt remember where it was!!!
Sunday
Sunday morning we managed to sleep all the way until NINE!!!!! Longest I've slept since we got to the Hogar, and it felt really great!!! We didnt have to do anything in the morning but the Mayora asked us if we could help her keep the kids in order during the service at 12 because her husband and 2 daughters had gone away for the weekend and they normally help. We said that of course we would help out but within ourselves we were a bit dubious about sitting in on the service.
I feel that I should say here that I really dont mean to offend anyone
by what I say about the service, I just really want to be able to say how I felt about it because it was a pretty emotional experience! So here are MY feeling on the whole thing.
I myself am agnostic, I dont know if a God exists or not, but am perfectly happy to accept peoples beliefs as long as something good comes from it.
The service began with some readings I didnt understand in Spanish - bible language isnt exactly as easy to understand as conversational spanish! The readings were followed by some songs - NOT like the hymns that I'm used to at home! There was a guitar with an amp, a drum kit, and a bunch of microphones. Tambourines in the 'congregation' and lots of clapping going on! I felt uncomfortable even at this, I didnt sing along as a, I didnt know the words and b, even if I did know the words I probably wouldnt have agreed with them anyway! I clapped half of the first song but then stopped. I felt like a hyprocrite standing there having to tell all the girls to join in when I wasnt and dont even believe
in what they're saying!!
Next the lady at the front (I dont know what to call her as I dont know her Salvation Army rank) asked three kids to stand up and say what they were grateful to God for - to which came responses such as 'he gives me three meals a day' etc. She then asked for three adults to do the same. I dont remember what the first lady said, something about having enough food and the other things she needed, and about having a child far away and that he keep them safe.
Then the Mayora stood up! Firstly she was thanking God for giving her her good health as she was sick last week, but then she asked me and Alix up to the front and started talking about how grateful she is that we are here to help her and that she wanted to introduce us to the church and everyone there. She made us tell everyone where we were from etc (anyone who knows me can work out how much I loved having to do THAT I'm sure!!). She then got the most senior member of the church to come and say
a prayer for us!!!
I dont mean to sound ungrateful when I talk about this, I am of course very happy that we're able to be here and help the Mayora and the kids. I just didnt want to be introduced (and made to introduce myself) to a room full of very religious people in a way that it makes it look like I am one of them!! I dont want them to now expect me to be a part of that church when I really dont want to! I feel it would be disrespectful to them if I DID keep going as I spent the whole time there feeling truly uncomfortable!!! I dont want to feel that I am expected to be religious - I have never told them that I am, but they have never asked me either so I feel that they presume I am anyway!!!
Anyway, to continue my story....This episode was followed by a few more songs and then came the really good bit - the sermon!!!
Up stood another man (the one who'd been singing the songs with a microphone (and a rain stick!!!) to give us our sermon. He was talking
about Brazil, as Tuesday is the beginning of the carnival there, and how all of us should remember to separate God and 'the world' and ignore the ways of the world to follow God! Now is it just me or do I remember learning that God is always with you and around you and he is a part of everything - therefore how can you possibly separate the two?! The next part however was what really annoyed me! He was talking about prostitution - that prositution is not just selling your body, anyone who changes how they look to appear more attractive is prostituting themselves, singers, dancers and people who dress us are all prostituting themselves! In that case - aren't YOU prostituting yourself by putting on that uniform to preach?...arent you prostituting yourself by singing through a microphone when you're the only one doing so? What are you saying to the children sitting in front of you whose mothers are/have been prostitutes so that they have food on the table!?
He started talking about all the many terrible things that happen in Brazil during the carnival. All those women who dance around half naked in fancy outfits, the homosexuals,
the drug dealers, people who drink or smoke, people who have sex - so basically pretty much everyone!!! They are all bad people in the eyes of God and we should remember never to do any of these things because we cant hide from them! He even started talking about people with HIV!!! I mean come ON!! All of these people cant just be written off!? Was he writing of some of my friends because they're homosexuals? They are bad in the eyes of god and need to change their ways? so what does that mean for my sister who was baptised on the same day as he was saying all this rubbish!!!! AAAARG! it just made me so Angry!!!! Half of me wanted to just get up and leave but then what would the kids think!?
Soon after that the service was over, as soon as I looked at Alix I knew she felt the same way about the whole thing.
The thing is that I have no problem whatsoever with someone believing those things, but this man was standing in front of a room full of young, impressionable children and teaching them this rubbish and it made
me very emotional!!
I'll stop ranting now! Congratulations if you got to the end of this blog entry! I just needed to get that all out!!
On a lighter note, I hope you all like the pictures, and that you're having a great time doing whatever you're doing!!
Love to you all!
Jen xxxx
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tom
non-member comment
church
that's what church in kirrie's like too, he just dumbs it down a bit for christmas and easter ;)