Friday 7/17/09
I was so nervous about sending the kids to Spanish class today. When it finally came time for the kids to go, I thought I was going to cry!! I am so glad that the kids were brave and went without any difficulties. During recess, Morgan came into my class and the first thing out of her mouth was, "Mom I learned twice as much as I would have in my other class!!" What a relief!! She also said that during math she understood what to do when most of the other kids didn't. There are a couple of specific girls that have been asked to help her out and they were reassigned desks to sit by her. I also told the girls in English that she has to help them out with their English also!!
Cole didn't come in to see me and I started to get a little worried. He finally came in after playing with his friends and told me that everything had gone o.k. There is a young guy that is student teaching and was helping him with some of the words. It is such a relief to know that the kids are enjoying themselves and that others are helping them to learn.
There was a baby shower today for a girl that just moved here (I think there's 3 siblings with their families that all moved here and live in the same house!!) a couple of weeks ago from Honduras. I found out that they make and sell flour tortillas. The only flour tortillas that I can find are in the grocery store and come in a pack of 5! Everybody uses corn tortillas here.
When I got to the baby shower (10 minutes late on purpose), the gates to the church were still locked!! I decided to drive around for a few minutes and see if anybody showed up. In my exploring, I was reminded that a typical 3 point turn is really a 25 point turn here! Luckily the other drivers are patient for the most part!! On my little adventure, I found the central park of La Esperanza. I never knew it existed!! There is supposed to be a little market a couple days a week I think. It also had a basketball court! There is so much stuff here that is just hidden away from the main road that I never get to see.
Once the gates finally got opened, I went into the baby shower. I am understanding more and even initiated a couple of conversations. The idea of baby showers was brought here from the U.S. so they even call them baby showers. Well any baby shower isn't complete without the cheesy games. It is the same here!! For one of the games, you have to take a piece of string. However long the string is is how long you have to talk to give advice to the person having the baby. My piece of string was about two inches long. When it was my turn, I said, "Mi pieza is pequeno porque no hablo muchos espanol. Recurde a jugar con sus hijos." The last time they played that game, I had to have an 11 year old boy translate for me just to say to always smile!! Baby steps!! I was also shocked that everybody gave blankets. This was the first shower that I was able to make a baby blanket for and of course she got at least 5 fleece blankets!! I think there were only two or three presents that weren't fleece blankets!!
We have started a family tradition of pizza and a movie for Friday nights. I had to hurry home from the shower so that I didn't miss out on the festivities! Morgan came up with a great idea last week that we tried this week. She said that Thursdays is 2x1 at Dominoes. If we bought the pizzas Thursday, we could get twice as much for the same price. So, yesterday Chris went and got 4 pizzas. I am mastering my tetris skills with fitting stuff into the fridge and freezer!! Half of us ate part of the pizza for breakfast because we ran out of milk and the gas ran out when I was trying to make pancakes!!
We had a great night eating pizza, grape soda pop, and watching a movie that we haven't seen. Chris was able to get the Slingbox to work. (Thanks to Duncan!!!!) It allows us to watch t.v. off of Duncans t.v. The kids enjoyed watching Journey to the Center of the Earth. Up until today all we've watched have been old movies that we've seen ten million times before!! Unfortunately though, it used up half of our internet connection allotment for the month!
Yes, we are still trying to get regular internet service to our house. Chris is now looking into satellite internet since we've had so many problems!!
Saturday 7/18/09
Rather than drag the whole family to the market, Chris dropped me and Morgan off at the fabric store. Morgan wants to help make baby blankets so I let her get some fleece. (I can't find any good flannel here!! I'm sure it's somewhere but where, I don't know!!) We ended up getting 7.5 yards of fleece for about $10. I think I might start making blankets and ponchos for a shelter or something here. (In all my extra free time!! (: ) After Morgan and I finished at the fabric store, we went up and down the rest of the market to get our fruits/veggies. When we were done, we called Chris and he came back to pick us up. In the meantime, he had taken the other kids to the park and let them buy bracelets made by a 12 year old boy. It is so hard to see the little kids out working to help support their families. Sometimes I wish that my kids really understood what it was like to work. Obviously not enough to send them out to sell stuff at the market!!
We saw a couple of missionaries getting on a bus while we were out. Cole said that he wants to go on his mission here so he can ride the chicken buses! I promised him that we'll go on a chicken bus before we leave!! He also likes to pretend that he is the bus helper guy. Each bus has a helper that collects the money, helps load/unload passengers as well as putting all of the stuff up on the top of the bus. Half the time the bus is moving when the guy is loading stuff on top so he has to climb in the back of the bus or chase after it to jump back on. Once back on the bus, they hang out the front door while the bus is going. They also wave their hands out of the bus to stop traffic. I don't know how they don't fall out!! On the smaller buses (very large vans) there are sometimes little boys doing the job. I have decided that one of the souvenirs that I want to take back to the states with me is going to be a little wooden chicken bus!!
Sunday 7/19/09
A typical Sunday. Went to church....didn't understand much.....played the piano.....came home.....ate leftovers......relaxed a little. I think Sundays are the hardest for Chris since we don't have the big family dinners to look forward to. We are really looking forward to seeing everybody in October/November/December!!
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