This last week has been one of the funniest weeks I've had in a long time! (and my life is usually hilarious, so that is saying a lot) Since you are tuned in, get ready for some good laughs. First I'll start with the bad: I was pretty excited when I came here on the idea that I wouldn't have to listen to that stupid "Call Me Maybe" song for 2 1/2 months, it took 2 1/2 weeks--but that dream was shattered. Here are some songs I have been greatly disappointed to hear on the radio and even more horrified that people knew the words:
Katy Perry.
"Here's My Number, So Call Me Maybe" - this is really the one I was sad about.
"What Makes You Beautiful"
The family and I get along great and are always making jokes, but I think I'm well accepted because the other day the parents told me they are all going to cry when I leave (and it's 2 months away). The youngest son is hilarious and is always teasing me, here is a video of his latest favorite thing to make fun of me for, you'll probably recognize this and most likely you too have mimicked me on this particular laugh of mine (he is sick so it's not quite as good as usual):
Wednesday I was SO hungry for breakfast that I kind of zoned out and was focused on my food. (Which is featured below. Side note: when my friends who served in South America told me of dipping bread in hot chocolate for breakfast I vowed to never do such a odd and gross thing...now I do it nearly every morning!) Anyhow I was eating and trying to hold myself together because I was so hungry. Hermana Martinez has been telling me about the cheese, then I zoned. She asked "If it was cold like this in the United States" and I stated "that I didn't know because I had never eaten it before". To which she and Andrés starting cracking up. Apparently--without me--the conversation had switched to the weather, in particular, autumn. We had a good laugh about how I had never eaten autumn before. This of course is an isolated event, I never tune anyone out and go into auto response...I'm sure I've never done that to anyone in the states. ;)
On the topic of food, here is another typical lunch:
Of course there were some classic mis-speaks this week, but the following is one of my favorites:
Andrés was sick so I gave him some of my DoTerra oils. He was asking what they were all for and as I was explaining I got to wild orange and said it was my favorite because it "Huele MAL!" (meaning it smells bad) which obviously I didn't mean. So now when we pass a place that smells bad we always laugh about how happy I am.
Presidente graduated from his Masters program this week, so I bought him a cake and had them write "Happy Graduation Shoulder" on it! (if you don't get this, refer to last weeks post) He thought it was hilarious.
Look at the following two pictures and consider what they have in common:
(I know, you wish your hair could be this styling after 3 days of not being washed.)
(This is a pitcher of water I boiled...)
I have been avoiding showers here because it is SO cold! Sometimes I wait 2 or 3 days. And for 3 weeks I haven't shave my legs. This whole time I have been so confused at the girls who shave their legs! The water is freezing! There is only one knob to turn, and every time it's cold water. Once it was less cold, but mostly always cold. But this weekend was a 10 stake young single adult conference and there were dances, and swimming and I needed to shave. I happened to be chatting with my roommate from AZ, who is friends with the family, and told her about how I just heated up water on the stove to shave with. This is when THREE WEEKS after shower with cold water, I found out THERE IS HOT WATER! There is a trick you do with the handle and no one told me! I wasn't mad at all, just SO happy I didn't have to shower for the next 2 months with cold water. It was probably one of the best showers of my life!
Before I get into the conference, que más? This week I ran 4 miles for Jamie and by mile 3 I thought "Man, I hope it's the altitude that is making this so hard to breath!"
Thursday was a long, hard day of studying...which entailed listening to popular songs most of the day and writing down vocabulary I didn't know. haha. My life is tough right now.
This little girl is the cutest thing ever! Dana is a girl that Maria watches and we became fast friends. Every time we have a cake for a celebration she always sneaks frosting before it's time to eat it! I understand, I was (and sometimes am) that way too.
So there is an alarm in the neighborhood that goes off randomly during the day and night. I asked about it a week or so ago and they explained it was both for something dangerous or bad (a drunk or druggie in the street) or for something good (like a goal for a soccer game). I thought it was super weird that it could mean good or bad, 'cause how do you know when it is which!?! I just let it slide though. I always thought there was some random place in the street where you turned on the alarm, which I also found confusing, again--I let it slide. Friday was a big soccer game which Colombia won! It was a great game, and as we watched the game the answer to my questions came clear:
There is a switch in all houses that turns the alarm on! I about fell out of my chair laughing as I viewed it being turned on and everyone ran to the porch to yell at the top of their lungs "GOOOOOOOAAAAL!!!!!!!"
Here is a photo of me in front of our chapel. This whole town is tatted up!
I love looking out the window and looking at the graffiti as we go places! This week as we were going somewhere I looked at these walls and I felt like it was my home, not a vacation. I knew where we were and I knew how far we had to go, I felt comfortable with my surroundings! It was sweet.
Just enjoying a drink on the Transmilenio!
Here is one of my favorite journal entries of the week:
"This morning I had a pretty sweet experience at seminary. First off it is their school break, and there is still seminary this week. There are 3 members in the class, one of which doesn't come most of the time. The other two (Andrés and Stefany) are the only members of the church at their school. Normally seminary is at 5:30 and the teacher walks to each of the boys houses and then we all walk together to Stefany's house, where seminary is held. Since it is a vacation week seminary is at 8:30 and we just meet at Stefanys without being picked up. Today, however, it was a 6 because their teacher had something she needed to go to. Sometimes the teacher doesn't come because she is a single mom of 4 and sometimes she or her children are sick. She doesn't have a phone, so they just wait and if she doesn't show then there is no seminary that day. This morning Andrés and I walked to Stefany's house and arrived at 6. No teacher. SO what did this 14 year old girl and 16 year old boy do? They didn't sit and chat, they didn't lay their heads on the table and fall asleep, and they didn't go home. They sat and read their scriptures. So I followed suit. After 15 minutes they said to each other "She is running late, we better start" so they picked a hymn and we sang, they assigned me to pray, and then Andrés gave a spiritual thought. Now 6:25, no teacher. So they said, "well we're supposed to be in Matthew 7" so we started taking turns reading verses in that chapter! 5-10 minutes later their teacher comes. WHAT INCREDIBLE YOUTH! Pretty sure in the states if the teacher is 15-30 minutes late you bounce!"
Ok, the singles conference this weekend was hilarious! And sometimes frustrating. It was supposed to start Friday night at 6PM with a formal dinner and dance. Luckily I found a dress that week that would work. But Jhonatan said we were meeting some of his friends at their house and then heading over after that. But we didn't leave our house until 5:30, then it was raining pretty hard and we got stuck for 2 hours in traffic because of the accidents on the road. We get to his friends house and we are pretty soggy and it was cold. Then we waited another 2 1/2 hours for his friends girlfriend to get ready. So we show up right after 10PM (it goes till midnight). I was surprised to note as I walked in that the food for the buffet was still out with servers at hand. It was quite the elegant event; the tables had white linen tablecloths and napkins, big bouquets of roses, and full silver wear (including 5 forks). We get to the dance floor and the first two songs are an oldies swing song (which was hilarious because Jhonatan and his friends were all looking at me and copying my dance moves! Baha!) and then YMCA! I laughed so hard as they all sang the words to YMCA. There is the proof that it is a world wide LDS dance song! After that a meringue song came on and I didn't get asked to dance so I sat down at the table. A little bored because everyone I knew was dancing I went to go peer at the food before it got put up. It looked good, and being a little hungry I was served a plate of food. It was a little weird that there were huge stacks of plates and bowls, but I didn't let that deter me. I went back to the table, sat down, and started picking at my food when Jhonatan comes over and asks, somewhat surprised, if I'm hungry. I said that I was a little hungry, and immediately everyone starts pouring into the seats at the tables. The music stops and a prayer is said. By this point I was thoroughly confused and asked why they stopped the dance in the middle of it to pray? This is when I found of that in Colombia you dance first, then you eat! So here is the white girl with her food as everyone else gets in line to be served! BAHAHAHA! All the sudden the odd looks on the servers faces made sense!
The next morning we had to meet at the temple at 5:30! (keep in mind the dance ended at midnight and it takes forever here to get places because you take the bus or wait for a taxi) So we get there and they don't have breakfast or anything for us! We drive 4 1/2 hours (which was supposed to be a 2-3 hours trip) and arrive at the water park. Which consists of a bunch of pools that are shallow enough that I can easily stand in all of them with my head above water. It was an interesting experience because there wasn't a ton to do. So we ended up doing things like the following video:
---coming soon, I'm waiting for it to be sent to me--
Note the "gorro" on my head. I was handed it when I got there and I didn't understand why, so I put it in my locker. They didn't say they were mandatory! So as soon as I got in the pool I got yelled at. Haha, apparently they think these little caps keep diseases out of the pool.
As one point I was sitting under a water mushroom thing and the water was pounding on my shoulders, it felt SO nice. In that moment I realized I really missed be touched. From my observations they don't really hug here, just a kiss on the cheek for hello and goodbye. In that moment I thought "MAN, I REALLY WANT A HUG!" (Which was cool because the next 2 days I got a ton of hugs from people! Gods love right there!!!) I met some cool people, and talked a lot with them. I was happy to make some friends.
The next day I attended the other ward (because I accidentally slept in) and they were AWESOME! I was so happy it was testimony meeting, and towards the end I got up and bore my testimony. The sweetest thing followed! I went back to my seat (in the middle/backish, on a bench by myself) and this older woman who was sitting in the front got up and came and sat by me! She gave me a big hug, thanked me for my testimony, informed me that we were going to be friends, and held my hand. It was so tender. Tears trickled down my cheeks because I had been praying to make some friends this weekend. I was so grateful to be loved by someone in the same country as me! She wrote down her name and number and told me to call her, I am so excited! After the meeting ended probably 20 different people came up to me and introduced themselves and gave me a hugs. I LOVE that ward! I went to sunday school with another sister that fastened herself to me and I understood everything that was being said! I felt so loved and welcomed I want to go back! I don't think it would be kosher to switch wards, so I think I am going to attend both because I have fallen in love with that ward!
When I got home from church my favorite dog, Canela, went into labor and had 5 puppies! They are so cute!
Because of this Jhonatan and I were late going to that day of the conference. We missed the first fireside talk. But we didn't miss the never ending one! It was about 4 hours in total and there were 3 different times where everyone was sure it was the end, but NO! I was ready to poke my eyes out by the end. At one point I was a little bitter and thought "I NEVER WANT TO ATTEND ANYTHING IN THE CHURCH IN SPANISH AGAIN!" I was super tired, and really hungry, and I had no idea how long it was going to be when I went into it. In reality I do enjoy listening in spanish, but I was over this particular fireside or storymonies and never ending Q&A's. After it ended a guy who was sitting in front of me started talking to me. He asked where I was from and he was surprised that I wasn't from Colombia, success! He got my number, so that is guy number one with my number here.
Monday was my favorite day of the whole conference! It was awesome! We listened to the Temple President talk (which amounted to "if you want to get into Heaven, get married!"--ok, it wasn't that blunt...but...). After we had lunch and it was super chill day hanging out with people. That afternoon/evening was my favorite! It started with dancing (which I was terrible at at first) and then intermittedly each stake would present a cultural dance from countries in South & Central America. It was AWESOME! It was nice too because it gave you a rest from dancing! I didn't think I would get asked that much, but I got asked to dance for every song! And equally surprising was that I picked it up pretty fast! I had a blast!
The stake I am in actually had the US and they danced 3 different styles and killed all of them! I was really impressed. The last number was a country dance and after they were done they wanted a picture with the gringa:
These are all co-workers of Jhonatan from MTC down here. I majorily hung out with them this weekend. They are all super nice and really funny! It's hard to pick a favorite among them, but probably the 3rd from the left. She was really fun to talk with.
By the end of all this I ended up having more confidence in my spanish because I was able to talk with so many different people, I picked up some sweet latin dancing skills, gave my number to two guys, and made quite a few friends and acquaintances!
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