Doubled Up

I didn't have much to report on week five, so I held off till week six.  So far, its been awesome.  During week 5 I realized "HOLY CRAP I ONLY HAVE 6 MORE WEEKS!"  If I thought I was disciplined before, I took it to a whole new level.  It certainly paid off too!  

Two weeks ago, on Sunday, I got asked out on a date.  I accepted but didn't confirm when.  This turned out to be adventageous for me because the next day I got invited to a (church) party by another guy.  Keeping my number one rule in mind (personal safety) I told the first guy, Manuel, that he would need to meet my family I am staying with first, and that I wanted to be back before dark.  He agreed to these terms and said we'd get some ice cream and just walk around.  That same night there was a young single adult dance, so I told him about it and invited him to go (and of course I had Andrés come with!) That Friday afternoon (of the date and dance) I found out it was a costume party, and it only took me a few minutes to rifle through my every day clothes to put together a costume!  

I was an indian of course!

And the children Marie watches happened to have brought me flowers that day, so I made them part of my costume.  (The bands featured here are a wardrobe glitch, but I got them fixed before I went to the party!)

Ice cream was good, but on the way to the dance I was trying not to laugh at some of his questions, including--but not limited to: "What am I looking for in a husband?  How many children I want?  Would I ever live in another country beside the United States?"  As well as informing me multiple times that he has a visa for the U.S. that is good for the next 5 years and he could go "whenever he wants".

So Manuel doesn't have a costume cuz he came straight from work, fine.  Andrés has his costume in a bag, whatever.  Andrés friend meets us, having come straight from work and she is without costume as well.  We show up to the dance and NO ONE ELSE is wearing a costume!  I said "What is this!?  Joke on the gringa?!"  It was actually pretty funny.  Several hours into the dance another girl showed up dressed as a green fair.  I ditched part of my costume, and you could really only tell if you were close to me and saw my face painted (which fortunately was done lightly).  It was pretty hilarious all in all!

Though we had been on a date earlier, I hadn't wanted this to be an extension to the date, so I tried to keep things casual.  Funny thing was he never even danced with me because from the moment the music started I was dancing with other guys, tehehe.  This is us when he took off:

Man they really know how to party here, but I was sad for this!  I left with the sons I live with and their friends at 2:30 IN THE MORNING!  And it still wasn't over!  I was so tired.  As we walked to the closest main street for a cab I wasn't talking too much because it is super hard for me to speak any language when I am tired.  However I got roped into answer some questions and I was trying to figure out the word for "hole", and Andrés offered an option so I took it and added "black" to it.  What he had told me is NOT the word for hole, and when I added black it was a super bad term that I now gather is a super dirty term.  So they have been making fun of me since.

We slept for a few hours at a friends house, and then took the journey home, arriving around 7AM.  When I woke up at noon I confirmed that I am so done with all nighters!!!

That night was stake conference, and it was awesome!  I felt really good about my spanish too because I understood all the talks!!!  So much so that I was even able to take notes!  This was especially exciting because earlier that week I felt discouraged that I was never going to get spanish down.

Some other things from that week:

One of my favorite breakfast soups!  It is so delicious!

 This little guy is for a Christmas tree...but I love him so much I think he's going on my bookshelf.  Aly helped me name him "Mortimer".

Also this week the puppies opened their eyes!!!  I am totally in love with them!

I went from an iPhone to this bad boy!  Here you can receive texts and calls, even if you don't have minutes!  So strange!  But this week I decided to buy minutes...which also can be used for texts...and there is a time limit during which you can use them.  Maybe it's like that in the states and I've just always had a plan...but I was so confused with this bizarre program.

Now for last week.  Here is some more delicious food:

And my favorite study partner:

My spanish took a significant step this week, so I was pretty excited to implement my new found knowledge!  Also I found out the week before that my ballot had been sent the 5th of October, but this week I still hadn't received it.  Getting nervous I e-mailed my state about it and they e-mailed me my ballot!

Manuel invited me to his university on Friday for a "English Day".  I woke up a little late, and reverted back to a poor American habit of breakfast to go:

It was an entertaining day all in all, and I laughed at the stereotypical "english" things they did (including "who wants to be a millionaire?")  And of course their were booths representing various english speaking countries.

(Random side note...none of the public toilets have seats here.  All those years of my mom teaching my to squat in public restrooms has paid off!)

 So, "English Day" kind of turned out to be a sneak, all-day date.  He invited me to lunch and dinner (and dinner turned out to be at a really nice place that the Martinez family has been teasing me about ever since).  At dinner he asked me again "what qualities I am looking for in a husband", "if I have a boyfriend in the U.S."(which is about the 3rd time for that one), and when I spoke of grad-school next fall he asked "if I wanted to get married or not".  All of my answers were honest, but I tried to keep our conversation very friend-based.  I was going to a dance that night at the institute, and he was going to a party for a co-workers birthday.  He took the bus with me an hour out of his way so he would walk with me the 10 minutes from the bus station to the institute.  (I have to note here that I did protest but he wouldn't hear it, and I was grateful not to have to walk the dark streets alone.)  One of my favorite things that he has asked so far is "if I can make cookies" and he was super impressed when I said yes! Bahaha.

I realized the other day that am getting skinner...well, my stomach is flatter at least.  At first I thought it was because I run once or twice a week and have the opportunity to exercise every other day, but after 5 hours of dancing the other night I realized that probably has a lot more to do with it!  So my recommended work out for everyone is to dance all night long!

I really feel like a part of the family.  This weekend I stayed up Friday and Saturday night until 2:30 in the morning talking and cracking up with the sons.  It's so fun to live with a family again!  Wait...I do that with my roommates all the time!  I love the people in my life!