Best Primary Activity Ever!

I drove again yesterday because I had to take the kids to a Primary Activity. First, I took the kids to soccer at their school. It took me 20 minutes to find a parking space and it was totally illegal, but three other cars were parked the same way so I decided to risk it. I let Ian do free-running near the school and Aidan's friend, Iman, from his class was there doing tricks with his top. He and Ian were hanging out teaching each other gymnastics and trompo (top) tricks. When the kids got out of soccer, I drove to the church without any incidents. The kids were obligingly silent for me. When we got to the church, the Bishop gave a short lesson about Samuel and had the kids each memorize one of two words of a scripture. He went around the circle to have the entire scripture said aloud piecemeal by all the kids. Afterwards, he talked about how the church belongs to everybody and we all have to take care of it. The kids then picked up trash around the outside, garage and inside the church. We sang I'm Trying to be like Jesus (in Spanish) for the closing song, had a prayer and then went to Kinepolis. I followed Nubia, but got stuck at a roundabout and when I finally drove into the roundabout, she was nowhere in sight. I went around the roundabout twice and then randomly chose a street. I was annoyed because I had come all that way only to get lost on the way to the part of the evening that they kids were really looking forward to. I pulled over to ask a pedestrian for directions and happened to see someone from church drive by, so I hurried and followed him and saw Nubia up ahead.

The Bishop divided the kids up into two teams and then everyone got their shoes and bowling balls and starting bowling. They put the bumpers up for all the kids. Justo took pictures of each kid posing with their bowling ball. Some kids were throwing their bowling balls. It was Ian's first time bowling and he did awesome. he tied for first place on his team with Cristina. Emma and Aidan did really well and enjoyed themselves as well. I wish everything wasn't so expensive here. It would be really fun to go bowling as a family, but it would cost around $40 to bowl and that isn't counting food or if the kids wanted to play some arcade games. Oh well, we can always bowl in PA. While the kids were bowling, I chatted with the Bishop, Pepi and the Stake Primary President. I was helping the SPP with her English homework and I have to admit that it was kind of hard! And I speak English.

After bowling, the Bishop treated all the kid to a burger and fries at Burger King. Emma didn't eat hers because it had everything on it. Ian ate his and loved it, of course. Aidan grudgingly ate his, but complained about the mayo, pickles, onions, etc., But there were 20 kids and it would have been really hard to let everyone order their meal to their specific tastes so they just had to deal. The kids also played in the play place. I was the only one who made their kids wash hands before they ate, I mean they had touched bowling balls and played in a play place that smelled like feet for goodness sake!

I had a salad and ate with Loli and her daughter Esperanza. I love being able to carry on a conversation fairly easily. I am so glad that I finally have a pretty firm grasp on the Spanish language. I still make tons of mistakes, but usually correct myself right away. I was kind of annoyed today with one of the parents at school insisted on speaking to me in English. I kind of thought he was implying that my Spanish wasn't good enough, but maybe he just wanted to use his English. He spent two months in Scotland. I think it would be fun to be European. They seem to have more opportunities to travel around cheaply and often.

We only had two small incidents yesterday to put a damper on our good time. Emma fell off the play place and cut her big toe open. There was a thick flap of skin the size of a nickel hanging off her toe and tons of blood. She was really upset and I had to carry her to the car when it was time to leave. I followed Justo to the church and then found my way to the freeway. By accident, I went into a tunnel because I was in the wrong lane and was speedily getting us lost at 10 p.m. without a map, a cellphone or GPS. I wanted to get off and turn around and was starting to get stressed out. Aidan started crying because he knew we were lost and it was pitch black outside. He started praying that we would find our way home and Emma and Ian sang some Primary songs. After about 10 minutes I took and exit and just hoped that I would be able to turn around and go back towards Granada. I guess the praying and singing worked because I found my way back to the spot where I accidently went in the tunnel. I got on the right freeway and found my way home without getting lost again. Aidan was very relieved. I know exactly how he felt. I hate being lost on wheels. I don't mind being lost when I'm walking somewhere because I can stop easily and get my bearings. In a car on a freeway, you can't just pull over and turn around wherever you want and it is really stressful to drive in a foreign country anyway.

We got home safe and sound and I have definitely gained some confidence driving over here. Maybe I will get brave enough to drive to Dani or Alcampo to do the grocery shopping. I am really craving maple syrup and you can only get it at the big chains.

Collin played with the students from CLM in an intramurals game. He scored 2 goals out of 8 for his team. When I came home from the church activity, he was watching a Champion's League game. That man just can't get enough of soccer.