29 October 2012

Our awesome dishwasher!

Musings from Hermana P...

Things I miss from home...my bosch, small gravy ladle, a good stock pot, a good potato masher, cream of tartar, real brown sugar, real "real butter," my house plants, my microfiber mop from Don Aslett's cleaning store, wire cooling racks, carpet, rugs, a waffle iron or skillet (Corey would be horrified to know that Grandma hasn't had waffles or pancakes since she left his house!  How could I have survived?)  Also, a hot bath, mountain hikes and bike rides, the foot stool my brother made for me, a ward choir, hymns sung on key, hymns sung with harmony, hymns with organ accompaniment, eating cookie dough (absolutely no eating raw eggs here), playing hide and seek in Sam's house after dark (I wouldn't dare be any place hiding in the dark at my apartment...there just might be something fuzzy hiding there, too!)  And Braxton's pitter patter down the hall making a bee-line for Grandma and Grandpa's room when he sees the door open!

Things I'm beginning to love here...walks around the park with Elder P, my electric fly zapper, my can of turbo Raid, fresh pineapple, huge avacados, my sombrilla (umbrella), the rooster crowing in the morning (and sometimes all night), the sound of dominoes being played outside our window (except at 2 in the morning...not so much), a little chunk of sharp cheese I get all to myself, Spanish words I actually understand in a Sacrament hymn, my tea pot, soft heels, brown eyes and brown faces, the smiles and sound of children's laughter (it translates beautifully), the students' voices when they read Spanish aloud in class (will I ever be able to read like that?), putting on my name tag, enough water in my cup to brush my teeth one more time, 2 bathrooms...his and hers, hugs and kisses from the sisters, the young men resisting the urge to hug, my friend Esperanza who comes once a week to iron Bill's shirts (she can use the pesos and we're happy to be of service!) with whom some day soon I look forward to sharing...asking and answering questions in complete sentences.  



 

Garbage pickup anyone?

Clothes dryer!

Looking outside our bedroom window.  Beautiful green growing things!

 

Our apartment complex

Things I'm not sure I'll ever get used to...cement walls you can't put a nail into, aforementioned fuzzy, furry, multilegged or tentacle clad things that crawl or skitter, Spanish words like "decir" a verb which means "to say", which conjugates irregularly (so do we :)...so when I say, "I say" it's digo (deego), "you say" is dice (deesay), "I said" is dije (deehay) "you said" is dijo (deeho) and then there's the future "I will say" dire' (deeray') or "he will say" dira' (deerah') and then of course there's the command form of say - diga (deega).  Oh what fun!  Then there's words like "hacer" (ahsair...h is always silent) which means "to make or do" (...which is it, please?) and you have the likes of hago (ahgo), hace (ahsay), hice (eesay), hizo (eeso), hare' (ahray'), and hara' (ahrah').  Gets me giggling he he he, ha, ha ha except that those words are forms of haber (ahbear) which means "to have done"...whether I have done or did or am doing and don't want to do, it's a whole other story!  This morning I said to Bill, "Who thought of this anyway."  He answered, "They did."  Well, WHO in the bloomin' flip ARE THEY?  Quien son ellos!  And to top off my list of things I'll never get used to, there's the daily reality video game we seem to be in on our drive to the Institute called affectionately by Sister Douglas (Mission Pres's wife)..."Super Mario Smash Brothers!"  You know how your side- view mirrors on your car have those familiar little words that say "Objects in the mirror are closer than they appear."  Well, because of the distortion I suffer from in my right eye, which gives me lousy depth perception, I have to keep saying to myself over and over, "Things are not as close as they appear, things are not as close as they appear."  I try to say it quietly, Bill just thinks I'm praying! (Well, of course that, too!)

Enough babbling.  The sun is shining again finally after 9 days of rain from Hurricane Sandy.  Thankfully we here in the north part of our island had just a little flooding in the streets a couple of nights and maybe more power outages than usual (hard to say) but all is well.  Love the work, love the Gospel, love teaching music (even in Espanol), love watching Bill teach, and most of all...love all of you! 

Hermana P.   (Silent H) :)