Yeah, we threw ourselves a goodbye potluck. I made chocolate chip cookies, brownies, chicken pot pie, stuffing, and sweet potato souffle. Everyone ate the stuffing with their hands, which I thought was a little unusual. Ana Maria brought chicken mole, Yamiles brought empanadas, Loli brought empanadas de atun and an apple/custard dessert, Sara and Pepi made paella in my kitchen, and Miguel Angel's mom brought Colombian style beans. I also put out some olives (Daniela ate most of them), potato chips and crackers. I bought caffeine free Coke, 7-Up, Schweppe's Strawberry Lemonade, and mosto. The only thing we were missing was bread. Sara and her mom had bought some, but forgot to bring it. They also forgot to bring the good kind of mosto, but oh well.
The teenagers were really putting the food away. I think they ate double what everyone else did. Esteban, Oliver and Miguel Angel are the most mischevious, funny and lovable three teenagers I've ever met. Every time I announced something new that I had put on the table, they would all jump up at the same time to run into the kitchen to heap a big helping onto their plates. Miguel Angel was teasing me because I take some many pictures. I also had to hide the desserts until everyone had eaten because I knew that if I put them out beforehand, the teenagers were eat them all before anyone else had a chance. I gave a plate of cookies to the Bishop and the Young Men ate every crumb before the Bishop's family even saw the treats. Their little girl was bawling because she didn't get any, so I made them another plate that I am going to take over to their house tomorrow for FHE.
Collin, Loli and Sara all gave speeches. Collin's was a modified version of what he gave at the goodbye dinner for the Bucknell students with their senoras. Oliverio was looking at him in a plaintive way which was cracking us all up. Loli spoke about how fun it was to have us around and also welcomed Travis and Anna, an new American family that just moved into the ward. She also said that one of the nice things about living in Granada is that you get to experience many different cultures, in our ward as well. One of the sad parts about that is that people don't always stay. And that they've loved getting to know us, but are sad to see us leave. They love that we always smile. They loved seeing the kids in the Primary program. They loved having us over to activities at their house. During her speech, Pepe kept interrupting and everyone kept shushing him. Sara spoke about how Collin was the best teacher the Primary has ever had and how he tamed the lions (naughty kids) in Primary. She also said she feels she has grown as a person as a result of being friends with me. She said how smart I was and how I contributed a lot in the Primary presidency meetings. She got really teary and gave me a hug after her speech. I didn't speak because I knew that if I tried, I would cry.
It was really fun to have everyone over and eat and chat together. I am going to really miss the friendships I have made here in a very short time. Oliverio said that latinos look for any excuse to get together and eat. Maybe it is my ethnic half that yearns for the loud, fun, casual way latinos get together frequently. They don't worry about how clean the house is and enjoy cooking for a crowd. That kind of stuff used to really stress me out, but last night I cleaned the kitchen and swept the house, but I didn't feel the pressure I usually feel when I know I will be entertaining the next day. Collin doesn't enjoy entertaining as much as I do and large crowds make him uncomfortable. I don't love large crowds, but I do love to hang out with friends. I'm glad we finally had everyone over after talking about it several times. My only regret is that there was tons of poopy toilet paper in the bathroom trash because in a lot of Latin American countries the toilets can't handle human waste AND toilet paper, only one or the other. That was pretty gross, but a small price to pay for having a fun goodbye party.
Yamiles, Miguel Angel's mom, and Ana Maria cleaned the kitchen for me while I was chatting with everyone. They are all such wonderful friends and have all really made our experience in Granada awesome. Ana Maria and Justo were the last to leave. Justo gave me a long speech about friendship and how we are always welcome in Mexico whenever we want to visit them. Ana Maria and I were both teary when we hugged goodbye. I think I will miss her most of all my friends, we clicked right away. I hope I can maintain the friendships I have made here, but I know it will be hard with the distance and even harder as time passes. I have never been great at staying friends after I move away. I always want to and I always say I will, but for some reason I find it hard to do.
Travis, Anna, Zadia and River were at church today and so I invited them to the party. I stayed in class with Zadia, River and Anna so I could translate what the teacher was saying. They seem like a really nice family. The two kids were clinging like limpets to their parents, not unlike ours did our first Sunday here. I think the Spanish language and all the different Latino and Spanish cultures put together is pretty overwhelming for them. During Primary, which is always really loud and crazy with kids swearing and disrespecting each other and the leaders, Anna and her kids just kind of sat there in awe. The music leader was teaching them some Christmas songs and also a dance! All the kids were singing quietly and completely off key and running around or ignoring what the music leader was trying to teach them. It was pretty typical with a little extra crazy thrown in. Two kids yelled at each other to shut up before the closing prayer. Afterwards, I ran around passing out cookies. The kids wanted to pass some out too. Two boys chased Emma and she crashed into a wall spilling her cookies. She was bawling. I think some people might have felt jealous that I didn't give them cookies, but I couldn't very well make cookies for the whole ward. I am only one woman with a junky oven, not Martha Stewart.
I am wondering how Travis and Anna's family is going to do with the food served at ward parties. They eat very healthy at home and Anna is allergic to shellfish. Spaniards and Latinos pretty much all love shellfish, the more legs, shells and eyeballs the better. Spaniards eat the most seafood as a country only beaten by Japan. Sara and her mom gave Collin and I each our own giant servings of paella. It was really good, but I saved about half for my mom, mostly all the shrimp and crayfish, since she LOVES seafood. Their kids are so adorable. Zadia was really shy all day, but River was totally the opposite. He took his shirt, socks and shoes off in our house. He was flexing his muscles in front of the hall mirror. He made himself totally at home on Ian's bed with Aidan, Carlos, and Ian. When I told them to sit closer together for a picture, River put his arm around Carlos of his own volition. He also sat on my lap for an hour in Primary playing with my watch and said the closing prayer in his Primary class. Our kids kept saying how cute River is and how much he reminds them of their cousin Ollie. I wish they had arrived earlier or that we could stay longer, I'm sure we would be good friends if we had the chance. I wish there were some way to keep your friends with you or at least be able to spend time with them whenever you want to. Is teleportation still too far in the future for scientists to invent?
