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One night, I was hanging out with a friend from Brighton. We were somewhere in the outskirts of Miliken and it was about 2-3 AM. You can already see where this is going, right? Or maybe not? Before arriving to Miliken earlier that night, we were talking about how creepy the roads looked and what we would do if we encountered something weird. (i.e. a body in the middle of the road.) Fast forward, we started driving back to Greeley and we decided to take this narrow dirt road. Now, I want you to close your eyes and imagine that you are riding in a heavy duty Dodge Ram, in the early hours of the morning, and the road you’re taking is surrounded by trees on both sides. It’s dark, yes? Well, my dear friend and his horrible sense of humor decided to turn his headlights off and the only thing illuminating our path was the moon. We then saw something ahead of us on the road. We freaked out! Why? Well, because earlier we had been talking about dead bodies on the road! We drove closer and he decided to put his window down while I’m in the passenger’s seat begging him to not do anything stupid. We pull up to this object on the ground and what do we see? A MATTRESS. Seriously, what a way to end the night.

Prompt: Was there ever a time where you believed something to be one thing and it ends up being something completely different?

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First, I would like to apologize to all the people out there who have a guinea pig as a pet. For high school, I attended a private Christian school here in Greeley; therefore, every year the senior class would go on a missions trip outside of the country. So, in March of 2017 my senior class and I decided we wanted to go to Quito, Ecuador for our missions trip. I knew that there were going to be many things that I wouldn’t be too surprised by because I grew up within the Latin/Hispanic culture. However, there was one thing that did surprise me. On our “fun day” in Quito, we went to the Inti Nan Museum which is placed on the equator. At this museum we were able to stand on the northern and Southern Hemisphere at the same time, balance an egg on the head of a nail, and see how the water in a toilets flushed counter-clockwise instead of clockwise. Our guide then took us into this little hut and there was a small section that hosted a guinea pig and her babies. They were eating lettuce and just crawling around. Going to the hut was the last thing we were going to do at the museum, so we went to a small picnic area to wait for our bus. As we waited, my Bible teacher and our translators arrived with some black groceries bags. That’s when Mr. Witty said, “Alright everybody it’s time that. Try one of South America’s (more Ecuador and Peru) delicacy… guinea pig!” We all just looked at him, no words coming out. We didn’t know what to say! C’mon, we just saw a guinea pig and her babies! However, we had to understand that every culture has different cultural foods and just because the U.S. sees guinea pigs as pets, not every country does. So, anyone who wanted to try guinea pig went up and got a piece. It actually didn’t taste too bad! A bit of a mixture of seafood and chicken. (Would have definitely enjoyed it more with a corn tortilla and some salsa.)

Prompt: Have you ever tried a dish that isn’t customary to U.S. food dishes? If so, did you like? Why or why not?

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I’m not sure if you’ve ever spent a decent amount of time in Downtown Greeley and by decent I mean about 5+ hours. Well, I work for JPMorgan Chase bank and I’ve been located at the Downtown Greeley branch for 2 1/2 years already. There are many things you see and experience when you’re in Downtown Greeley. Two weeks ago, I was working and my coworker and I were both with customers. A man comes up near the transaction/teller line and he’s just pacing around. He kind of looked lost. Then, he starts walking towards the door that leads to behind the transaction line and my coworker and I just look at each other as if saying, “Oh my gosh, what is he trying to do?” We had a quick, five-second moment of panic because we knew that, working at a bank, the possibilities of us being put in danger are higher than usual. My coworker then asks the man, “Hi, sir! How can we help you?” He keeps looking around, completely ignoring my coworker. She asks him again, “How can we help you?” The words that come out of his mouth are, “I need you to call the cops or someone. There’s someone out there trying to kill me.” Well, if that didn’t wake me up. I finished helping the customer I was with and I walked out to try to help him. I had him sit in one of our empty offices because I didn’t want him anywhere near the doors or big windows just in case what he was saying was true. I called the cops and while we waited for them to get there the man keeps telling me, “Don’t go. Don’t leave me alone.” He starts pacing around again, completely deranged. He sits down again and guess what he did? He pulls out a half empty liquor bottle and downs the rest of it in one gulp. This guy was drunk out of his mind. I couldn’t even tell because we have to wear masks so I couldn’t really smell anything. Eventually, the cops got there and escorted -more like dragged- him off of the premises. What a way to start my Saturday morning!

Prompt: Have you ever been put in a situation where you weren’t feeling too safe?

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I’m not a fan of carrot cake, but one of my good friends is. So,  a little bit of a backstory. My friend isn’t big on birthdays. He’s never really liked when people celebrate his birthday. So, I knew his birthday was coming up because he kept hinting at it, but he wouldn’t tell me when it was. On the night of April 1st, we hung out and I remember getting irritated with him for some reason. He looks at me and says, “You can’t be getting mad at me because we’re celebrating my birthday today. Or my birthday might be tomorrow. Either way, you don’t know when it is so you have to be nice to me.” I rolled my eyes and laughed. We enjoyed the rest of our evening, but I kept asking him when his birthday was over and over again. He then dropped me off at home and once he got home we hopped on FaceTime. Came midnight and it was April 02, 2021. He looks at me and says, “It’s my birthday.” FINALLY. He doesn’t like telling people when his birthday is, but he finally told me. He was drinking a beer and I was drinking water and we said,  “Cheers!” He then told me not to make a big deal about it and to just act like it was any other day. Well,  I wasn’t going to do that. I told him to pick me up that night so that we could get some beers and some carne asada fries, on me since it was his birthday. He picked me up and I asked him to stop by Kings Soopers. I walked towards the back and I saw these small pieces of cake. There were only two left: chocolate and carrot-cake. I turned to him and asked him to pick one. He started to say something about how I shouldn’t be celebrating his birthday, but I cut him off. Again, I told him to pick one. So, he picked the carrot-cake because he likes carrot-cake. I bought the cake, a bunch of candles (28! Yikes), and some matches. We went to his truck and ate our carne asada fries and drank our beers. We then decided to drive up to Estes. When we got to Estes, we parked on the side of a lake and I started putting the candles on the cake. I sang Happy Birthday and I had him blow out the candles. The smile on his face the whole time was priceless. It’s a night that I never want to forget.

Prompt: Has there ever been a moment in your life when did something so simple yet so special for someone?

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I will try to make this one as short as I can. So, my younger sister and I went to Houston for my cousin’s wedding. The cousin that was getting married was family from my mom’s side of the family, but my dad also has family in Houston. We were only going to be there for about four days and most of the time there was going to be spent with family from my mom’s side, so my little sister and I decided to spend the first day we were there with my dad’s side of the family. My cousin, from my dad’s side, and her husband wanted to take us to the Museum of Fine Arts located in Downtown Houston. We decided to go and we made plans for my cousin, from my mom’s side, to meet us somewhere in downtown Houston to pick us up. So, the time comes for us to meet up with my moms family and I’m on the phone with my cousin asking her where she is so we can meet up with her. Turns out she wasn’t going to pick us up and my aunt (her mom) would be picking us up. I don’t know if you’ve ever been in the center of Downtown Houston on a Friday night, but it gets crazy! Cars just zooming past you. As if the craziness of Downtown Houston wasn’t enough, my aunt’s communication of where she was at was making everything 100x worse. She was telling us to just grab our suitcases and wait for her in the park and my cousin and her husband were just like, “Ummm, no. You’re two young ladies in a place that you’re not familiar with and with suitcases. We’re not just going to drop you off at a park.” I was in agreement with them 100%. We’re not familiar with Downtown Houston nor do we know what could happen. So, my cousin’s husband was finally able to find a parking spot at the park and my aunt finally showed up. She, literally, parked in the middle of a busy road and opened her trunk. My sister and I were scurrying as quickly as we could to put our suitcases in her trunk. There were so many cars around us. Then, I hear my little sister say, “Wait! Where are my AirPods?!” She went to my cousin’s car and found them and the she hurried back into my aunt’s car. She saw that an airpod was missing and she looked out the window. In that moment, she saw a tire connect with her AirPod and then it was gone. Man, was she mad. Not at me, but at my aunt. It definitely made the next three day’s there very interesting. Now, whenever we visits Downtown Houston, that memory will always be present.

Prompt: Is there a place that brings up a bad/not so memorable memory whenever you think about it?

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In the summer of 2016, my mom was invited and flown out to go sing at a church in New Mexico. Since my family didn't really vacation anywhere that summer, we decided to join her. So, my dad, my sisters, and I drove out to this super small town to meet her there. When my family road trips we all agree to take turns sleeping in the very back seat of our Toyota Sequoia. We just deemed that to be fair so that each of us could have some time to stretch our legs and sleep a bit more comfortably. So, during our drive to New Mexico I headed towards the backseat because (yay!) it was my turn to sleep in the back. Man, was I exhausted. I passed out as soon as laid my body down. The next thing I remember is waking up and seeing the sun shining on the fields and mountains outside of the window. I tried to get up, but my body wouldn't move. Then, I tried moving my neck to the left, but I still couldn't move. Let me tell you, I absolutely FREAKED out. I could hear my sisters talking with my dad and so I started calling out for my older sister because I knew she was sitting in the seat in front of me, but she wouldn't turn around. That's when I just started screaming in hopes that someone would hear me, but no one did. I remember giving up and falling asleep again. Then, when I woke up I was able to move. "What is going on?" I thought to myself. I sat up and asked my sister if she had heard me calling for her. She said no. That's when I realized that I had experience sleep paralysis and let me tell you, it is not fun.

Prompt: Have you ever experienced sleep paralysis? If so, what was your experience like?

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As I stated in one of my earlier posts, I have family from both my mom and dad's side that live in the Houston, TX area. One summer, we took a road trip to visit my dad's side of the family and I just want to say that visiting that side of the family is always fun because of the FOOD. Here are some of my favorite traditional Salvadoran dishes: pupusas (the picture), casamiento, and sandwich de pollo. Keep in mind, I just put down a few of my favorites. Anyway, one day we were all sitting in the living room and kitchen of my aunt's house. My aunt and my dad were in the kitchen cooking something up and the rest of us were just there keeping them company and making conversation. Then, FINALLY, a plate of food was placed in front of me. We had the traditional red beans with rice side dish and then there was some seasoned shredded chicken next to it as well. Holy crap, I was so hungry that I dived right in. Mmm, this was some of the juiciest chicken I had ever tasted. However, I saw that my mom wasn't eating anything and that her and my dad were just staring at me. They started creeping me out and I got to wondering if I was given seafood to eat and I didn't even realize it. Here's the things, I am not a fan of seafood. I can't even eat tuna or shrimp. So, I looked at my dad because he started getting this really big grin on his face and laughing and asked, "Que? Porque me está mirando así?" (Translation: What? Why are you looking at me like that?) Then he just tells me, "What do you think you're eating?" I just shrugged my shoulders and said, "Chicken?" He laughed and said, "Nope. Iguana." The way my face dropped was hilarious, but then I just shrugged my shoulders and said, "Well, it's good. Taste like chicken maybe even better because it's juicier."

Prompt: Were you ever tricked into trying something, food or not, and realized you ever would have tried that thing if you hadn't been tricked into trying it?

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This past May, my family and I went to Vicente Guerrero, Durango, Mexico where my mom was born and raised. This was the first my mom had gone back to her pueblito since she had immigrated to the United States. That was thirty-one years ago. So, as you could imagine, it was a pretty emotional trip. The cool thing was that it wasn't just my immediate family that went to V. Guerrero. A lot of my extended family went as well: aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. Even family from out of state. I understand and speak Spanish fluently and for the most part, so do my cousins. The younger ones are the ones that don't understand/speak it that much. I am so glad my parents always pushed me to learn their native language because that makes trips such as these even better because I am able to communicate with the people from their home countries. Anyway, one day we were out and about and we decided to go to the jardín, which directly translates to garden. However, it wasn't much of a garden. It's a very small area where people walk around and there are street vendors around the whole place (see picture above.) In the jardín, we ended up running into my godfather's nephew. What a small word, seriously. What are the odds of that happening when his nephew doesn't even live in Vicente Guerrero? Anyway, we introduced ourselves and I asked him a question I had been curious to ask the minute we had landed in Mexico, "Can you tell that we're not from here?" He said, "Easily." Wow, I expected the answer to be along those lines, but not exactly like that. Naturally, I asked, "Why?" He just went on to say that the way we're dressed, when we speak Spanish, and the way we're always looking around screams "I'm from the United States!"

Prompt: I'm sure many people have felt like this when visiting other countries, but have you ever felt like this when going to another state? For example, if you were to go to Louisiana, do you think people would be able to tell you're not from the area?

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I grew up in the church and was always heavily involved in church. Many of my core memories are in church or something to have to do with church. So, let me share one of those with you. My grandma was always a person that didn't really know how to express emotions well. My mom, aunts, and uncles suffered because of it growing up and it was just funny to experience it growing up as her grand-kid. She just had the oddest ways of showing you that she loved and cared for you. At church, my family was really involved, whether it was in the worship band, kids ministry, etc. I played the bass guitar for a good amount of the years that I was there, so whenever we were done with the worship portion of the service we would all just get down and go sit in one of the pews. It was always towards the end of the service that this would happen because my grandpa would finish his sermon by asking everyone to stand up so he could dismiss everyone. As soon as we all stood up, my grandma would start walking towards the back where all my cousins and I were sitting and she'd slap each of us in the back of the head, one-by-one. I'm not sure how to explain it, but it was her way of showing us her love. That's one memory I will always hold onto.

Prompt: Do you have any core/special memories of a loved one?

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Alright, for this story we're going to go back to Spring of 2015. My grandma was a lady that was full of life even up until her final breath. She had just gotten back from her trip to Mexico, March of that year. She started feeling sick a few days after her and my grandpa had arrived. Eventually, the family was able to convince her to go to the doctors. I say that because for a lot of Latinos, they will wait until the very last minute to go see the doctor. I'm not sure why. Anyway, turns out that she had kidney stones and they were going to have to operate to remove them and that's exactly what they did. She spent about three days in the hospital recovering before they sent her home. She started getting better and then one night, approximately three weeks after the surgery, she had to be rushed back into the ER. Everything went downhill from there. My grandma spent the next two months in the hospital or at the rehabilitation center located in the Johnstown/Loveland area. Unfortunately, the doctors couldn't figure out what was wrong with her. One day they were telling us that her kidneys were failing and that she was going to need a transplant and the next day they were saying that didn't need a transplant, but that her kidney's were still failing. At one point they sent her to the rehab center in Loveland because she was doing a lot better. Three days later, we get a call early in the morning saying that she was being rushed back to Banner hospital here in Greeley. The next day everyone kind of knew. This was it. She was taking to the ICU and intubated. It wasn't until about 5 o'clock when her heart first stopped. My sister and I were at work and my mom called telling us that we should head over to the hospital because things weren't looking good. When we got there we heard the code blue alarm going off and her room number being announced right after. They were doing CPR on her when we got there. This happened another three tomes before my grandpa decided to not resuscitate her anymore. The whole family gathere around her bed and we sent her off by singing hymns. It was 7:00 PM on May 26t, 2015 when my grandma took her last breath.

Prompt: Have you ever lost a loved one/family member/close friend?

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The Mattress: Storytelling with Comprhension

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The Mattress: Storytelling with Comprhension

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1. encountered
2. fast forward - have the students go from one side of the room and quickly move to the other side of the room and explain how fast forward means to move from one place to another quickly.
3. illuminating

Retell The Story:
https://youtu.be/IvJHjE9rJck