Granada's Got Talent

Last night was the Granada Ward Talent Show. Our kids performed admirably as circus animals. Emma and Aidan were elephants and Ian was a monkey. We had to come up with their costumes ourselves. I ended up cutting up a couple pairs of Emma's tights to make trunks and ears. Each child had a part to say:

Emma, "Soy la elephanta Rosa. Baila y canta cualquier cosa. Muevo la trompa al compas y no me canso jamas."

Which translates roughly to "I'm Rosa the elephant. I dance and sing however I want. I move my trunk and never get tired."

Aidan, "Soy Violante, el elphante por detras y por delante. Toco un tambor de ojalata y con una sola pata." Which translates roughly to, "I'm Violante the elephant from behind and from the front. I play the tambourine on only one foot."

Ian, "Soy el mono, Manolete. Lo que pasa rechupete. El publico cada dia, cuando yo hago monerias." Which means, "I'm Manolete, the monkey. I'm delicious (I didn't quite understand this part). Every day the public gives me money.

Ian also wanted to do cartwheels and poppin' and lockin'. He fell flat on his face at the end of his "rountine," which actually made a great ending. I know I'm a bit biased, but our kids were the best in the circus act. They spoke loud and clear and did some actions as well.

There was a violin player who is investigating the church. He teaches violin at a music school and played two separate pieces. There was a rock band (electric guitars and organ) that played Amazing Grace as well as two rocked out Primary songs, the Primary kids were back up dancers for one of the songs. There were two magicians, one who did card tricks and another who turned a can of 7Up into Orange Fanta (Aidan was thrilled and amazed). The missionaries rapped a couple primary songs. One of the missionaries did a very weird interpretive dance to piano music and finished by sliding down the center aisle on his stomach. It turns out that his companion bribed him with two milk plus juice breakfast drinks that all the missionaries are crazy about. Leonor, Emma's friend who is 8, did a very accurate hip-shaking dance to a Shakira song complete with handstands and cartwheels. Carlos played percussion to a flamenco song. We walked home very late and stopped for ice cream at los italianos. Emma got tutti-frutti, which turned out to be fruitcake flavored ice cream. She hated it, so even though I got my favorite flavor, pistachio, I traded her with the condition that she would give me an extra long foot massage. An old lady on asked us for a cigarillo on the way home and was very disappointed that we didn't have one. When we got home, I tried to roll up the window shade and BROKE IT! Collin propped it open with a suitcase, but that is yet another thing we have to get fixed. 

On Friday,  I was running the dishwasher and washing machine, the CD player, TV and DVD player and a fan were all on. I blew a fuse in the apartment. We thought the fuse box was downstairs in the lobby, so we kept knocking on the porter's door to try and get the key to the box. We went an entire day without power. Finally, I told Collin to call Manuel, and he told us that the fuse box is actually behind our kitchen door. DUH! The kids had talent show practice that night at church. Collin went to a Priesthood activity which was dinner at an Argentine restaurant. 

We got up kind of late to walk to church, so we took the bus. The kids and I had a really hard time waking up. At church I met two ladies who are here doing intensive language programs. One is from Lancaster, CA and the other is originally from Guatemala, but lately from Santaquin, UT. 

We asked the kids what they learned at church and Aidan said, "I think they were talking about Christmas because I kept hearing them say 'Santa'." We explained that in Spanish 'santa' means 'saint'. On the way home, Emma fell asleep on the bus. We went around a sharp turn and she fell off her seat and bumped her head. 

Tonight after a delicious dinner of bonito salad and tortilla (it just gets better every time I make it), we went to Federico Garcia Lorca Park. We ran into Carlos's family and he played with our kids while Collin and I chatted with his mom, aunt and grandmother. Collin managed to finagle an invitation from the grandmother to teach me how to make paella. I can't wait! I love learning how to cook foreign food. 

Tomorrow is Aidan's 10th birthday, hopefully it goes well!