Tuesday, February 24, 2009

The Weekend


After waking up WAY too early and not being able to get back to sleep, I took a luke warm shower—probably the warmest I will have the entire time I live here—and joined my hostess and maybe it’s her sister for breakfast. My hostess is the grandma, and her daughter is the one with the kids who live here, but really, I have no idea. I don’t understand enough Spanish to catch any of it!! Mi Abuela made me a sunny side up egg with onions and tomatoes. It reminded me of something Papa would make. I don’t like onions or tomatoes but you can bet that I smiled and ate all of it. Told her it was the best I’d ever had : ) haha! Then we went to the market.

Ahh, the market. This is the quintessential South American open air market, selling produce of every size, shape, variety, and cleanliness you can imagine. The booths were set up on city blocks of concrete slabs but in between each ‘block’ were muddy roads that reeked to the top of Mount Misty I’m sure! Whew, what a smell! It was beautiful. The market was loud, exciting, alive, and incredibly intimidating. I loved it!

After spending the morning shopping for the weeks grocery’s and getting a lovely bouquet of vibrant red carnations, we went back home for lunch. She served me a plate of vegetables that I expected to be it—there were avocados, radish, beets, cucumbers, and a salad. Then she made me fried chicken and baked potatoes. It was divine and I was stuffed!

I met the rest of the Extreme Group that evening (Saturday). We explored the Plaza Centro and then had dinner on some balcony with a fabulous view. Esta muy bonita. I went back to Kindra’s house and pent the night with her and Denise. In the morning, Kindra and I joined the Grumms and went to our church. I know that it will be much more invigorating when I know some Spanish. It was interesting, but I didn’t get a whole lot out of it.

We went shopping for my school supplies after church—I needed a notebook and some pens for class. The shopping center is something akin to a small Fred Meyer. It was super busy and pulsating with activity and color. I found a beautiful princess notebook that even has stickers!!! It makes me very happy!

I am riding taxi’s by myself now. I have since Saturday. That’s really exciting! They go really fast and zip in between other cars. Wow, it’s intense. And it’s really cheap. 3 soles to get me across town—that’s a little less than $1. Anyway, from shopping I took the taxi home. I met more of the family finally. I don’t know their names—they say them so fast—but the boy is in his teens, and I met Mi Abueala’s daughter who is in her early 40’s. There is also a dad and another older gentleman….all very friendly. The teenage boy speaks decent English, so we tried to talk to each other. We watched Burn Notice (in English with Spanish subtitles) and I thought of my precious family back home. It was a good bonding time for us : )

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