The Price of Church Activity

Collin was at church playing basketball when this kid who is probably 4 years old showed up. Collin was wearing his Spanish soccer jersey that I got him for Father's day a couple years ago and the 4 year old showed up fully clad in the shirt, shorts and socks of the Spanish soccer team. He walks up to Collin, a complete stranger, and goes, "Dude, that's the shirt from like two seasons ago. You need a new one." You know they take their soccer seriously when the toddlers are strutting around in the national uniform. Then again they do have the #1 team in the world right now. 

We walked to the mall and found a cool Chuck E. Cheese's type place for Aidan celebrate his birthday at on the 27th. He wants to invite Samuel, but he hasn't been able to communicate very well with him, unless you count hand gestures. Emma kept going on and on about how the smooth floors in the mall would be perfect for heelys. She also kept saying there was too much temptation at the mall, too many things for her to covet. 

Last night, Emma burst into our room at 1 a.m. and said, "El gato esta jugando con su propia sombra!" Which means, "The cat is playing with his own shadow." She has been religiously reading Just Look and Learn Spanish Dictionary everywhere she goes, on the bus, while walking, and in bed at night. She'll probably earn all her chore money by learning Spanish and without lifting a finger.

Collin and I got tired of always going to the store multiple times a week so we tried to do a week's worth of shopping with all the kids. We filled up our cart to the brim in a very carefree manner and then as we checked out we remembered that we would have to carry all the groceries home. Only half of them fit in our carreta. It took all five of us to haul a bunch of heavy bags 7 blocks home. The kids kept complaining about the heat and how heavy the bags were. The heat is pretty intense here and magnified by the lack of air conditioning in our apartment.

Our sleeping is still off. The other night at 3 a.m. Collin made himself a bunch of fresh squeezed orange juice that he jealously guarded and wouldn't let anyone else taste. We go to bed late, especially Emma, and wake up equally late. By the time we eat and get ready, it is way to hot to go anywhere. So sometimes we spend half the day sweating away in the apartment with the fans on full blast. 

We had church again today. The bishop called us in and Collin and I thought that for sure we would get callings. He did ask to transfer our records, so probably as soon as they get our records we will get callings. That will improve my Spanish in a hurry. They asked me to give the prayer in Relief Society. I gave the shortest prayer in the history of the church, but still, it was in Spanish. I hope to goodness that they don't ask me to give a talk. I hate public speaking in English and having to do it in Spanish just makes me gag with nervousness just thinking about it. We were invited to an unofficial FHE tomorrow, we are dancing and playing basketball on Wednesday, the kids have talent show practice on Friday, the actual talent show is on Saturday and then of course we have church again on Sunday. We will be at church 5 times this coming week and if we don't walk, it will end up costing us E 60=$100 to take the bus back and forth. My feet still hurt from the first time we walked to church last Wednesday! I am just going to have to bite the bullet and wear my running shoes. 

I don't know if we can afford to be so active in church here! But on the flip side, it is the best chance the kids and I have to improve our Spanish in a friendly, non-threatening environment. I found someone to do a language exchange with me. Her name is Annihl and she is leaving to serve a mission in Washington D.C. in the fall.  We also found some babysitters through church so Collin and I can Tapas-it-up this weekend!

A good side effect of not having tons of toys and video games to play with is that the kids have become very creative in the way they play. Aidan puts on bubble shows and all three kids have made some amazing things with Legos. 

Yesterday at the park, Aidan was bitten by a small white dog (it didn't break the skin). Here's how he described it, "I was doing heelys and it chased me for no reason and attacked me!" At the same park, Ian really had to go to the bathroom and so he went by a tree . . . FACING everyone in the park. I guess he still hasn't gotten the hang of discretely relieving himself in public.  Earlier we went out around lunchtime and walked up the hill to the Plaza Larga where they had a fruit and clothing market going on. They also sold live snails. The kids had an ice cream at a cafe up there and Collin asked me to order him some toast with jam. The owner and another guy were trying to convince me to buy a pastry. One asked me where I was from and when I told him "Pennsylvania," he looked really closely at my face and said, "Are you sure you aren't from an island or something?" We talked a little about my ethnic background. He told me that my Spanish was good. That was the most gratifying moment I have had since we've been here since I struggle so much with the language.