Our days are falling into a pretty specific pattern. Collin takes one of the kids somewhere in the morning while I take the other two to the library. (There is such a thing as too much family togetherness.)I made myself get at least one book in spanish, a graphic novel. The other book is a translation of spanish short stories.
After siesta we walked for two hours (with a few breaks for ice cream and p.b. and j's) to church. On the way we met two prospective babysitters, but we couldn't get them to commit since they were having siestas. We saw the same puppies from before, but the homeless guy who owned the dog and puppies had sold about half of the puppies already. Our kids wanted one, but of course we can't get a puppy because of our nomadic lifestyle.
We were supposed to meet a couple people at the church so we could get a ride to what we thought would be FHE at someone's house with a couple of families. We ended up splitting up into two cars: Collin, Ian and I with Luz and Edison; Aidan and Emma went in another car with Carlos, Wolfan and Annahil (three singles). We followed Carlos (a thirty-something single primary teacher) to another town and up into the hills passing olive groves and what looked like old quarries. Our destination was actually an Ermita (hermitage) or small church which was supposed to be free on Mondays. Instead of a couple families, pretty much the entire ward was there. There was an event going on and they were going to charge each person a Euro to get in, while one of the bishopric members was trying to reason with the lady at the gate, all the kids just started streaming in so the adults followed and no one paid. There were ostriches that the kids fed, parakeets, parrots, peacocks, ducks, and tons of other colorful birds. They also had goats and a deer. The ermita itself was off limits because of the event. I didn't understand much of the lesson. I only know that they were citing reasons to have family home evening and there were some heated arguments. Afterwards, there was a ton of food and drink that everyone, but us, had brought. It was so hot and the kids had drunk all the water I had been carrying around and so by the time they busted out the beverages, we were all parched. Collin said he would have paid someone 10 E for a bottle of coke because he was so thirsty.We all drank way more soda than was good for us because we had gone without water for a couple hours in the heat. The food was an interesting mix of dishes: flan, chocolate chip muffins, Mexican Salad (something that looked like coleslaw, but served on saltines), canned pate on bread, potato chips, garlic toasts, green plums, apricots, cheese and ham, custard (to drink!), chocolate milk, orange soda, lemon soda, Coke, Pepsi, soda water, and juice. No one washed their hands and everyone was grabbing stuff and spreading stuff and handing stuff to each other and crowding around the table like a giant ravenous family. I liked the casual and familiar attitude they all had.
"Hey Tara, want some pate?"
"Sister, have some of this flan."
"Everyone has got to try some of this Mexican Salad. My wife made it and it is delicious. Gather around and I will give you some."
"Did your kids get enough to eat? Here give them this cracker with cheese on it."
Everyone was so friendly and loving. We were really surprised when a man we hadn't met came up behind Ian and grabbed his head and kissed it. Collin and I had an intense moment when we thought we might have to jump in and whisk Ian away from him. I think he definitely had some sort of mental handicap. I saw him do the same thing to another kid and the mother of that kid looked a little worried as well.
Aidan has a new friend named Samuel who he loves to hang out with. He actually yanked some ostrich feathers off one of the live birds, stole a duck egg from the lake and kept ignoring people when they asked him not to do something. He is really friendly and wears his hair in a fauxhawk. He seems pretty attached to Aidan regardless of the language barrier. Emma has a friend named Leonore who spent some time in New Hampshire and knows a little English. Aidan and Emma have big plans to invite them both over for a playdate and want me to make pancakes.
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