It's been a busy couple of days for us so by the time I had time to blog, I was too tired! One of our goals here is to get to know the people around us. To understand more about how they live and what is important to them is a bit difficult due to language constraints, but we try. Scott is much better at it than I am because he knows the language so much better, but I am slowly learning more and communicating more. What we do know is they have very little. Each time we go to the grocery store and come home with bags and bags of food and household things and William helps us carry them up to our apartment I feel guilty that we have so much and they have so little. William is a great guy with a wife and three kids. He is very humble and helpful - always has a smile for you.
You just want to make their lives easier somehow but they seem to be happy because they have never known anything different. William's family is moving into a better house this weekend. We were going to take his family to McDonalds tonight for dinner because they don't like our American food so we ended up taking them to get pizza. But, as is common, when his wife got home from work she didn't want to come back into the city - an hour ride on the bus. Can't say that I blame her! We were going to take them back home though. After seeing the housing of the poorer people here I was sad just thinking about seeing where they lived because I would probably be in tears. And that would be impressive ! Today when William came up to warm up his lunch he brought pictures of his kids because they had sent them out in the country for 15 days to visit their grandmother and wouldn't be here tonight. They are cute, well-kept children.
There is so much violence against women here. The last woman who started a campaign to stop the abuse was actually killed. I don't know how long ago that was but now there is another woman who writes articles on abuse, the causes, what to do, etc. Hope she survives! Of course much of it is the result of alcohol and drugs as it is in the States. You just want to protect every woman you know here in some way. The new government seems to be cracking down on the number of bars there can be in a specific area and are arresting and having shootouts with drug dealers. Plus stopping people who run red lights - which could be a full time job for thousands of people here. We have seen fewer people running the lights already. Guess that means that Scott is going to have to start obeying the law rather than following the car beside him!
We had our lesson with the returned missionaries yesterday. Only the new one showed up so it was a fun hour of teaching him because he learns so quickly. The bad thing is the other two will have to catch up which will slow him down. Being reliable is not too important to these people! We love them though - it has been fun teaching them.
I took our bedspread to the Casa to wash because it would never fit in our little washer. And of course after our Spanish class and temple visit I forgot to go get it. It has been difficult to get things dry enough with the humidity that they don't smell icky. They actually have dryers in the Casa. So Scott went back today to pick it up and get more area plan papers from Sister Button.
Spanish class was so frustrating for me yesterday. Elder Hammon is insistent that he is going to teach me - but when he singles me out I can't remember a thing! Most of the women there have much Spanish in their background so know so much more than I do. I will learn, I will learn, I will learn.....The verb conjugations in seven different tenses just drive me crazy. Scott has been talking to me more in Spanish and that does help. How I respect those young people who go into the mission field and have to learn a new language.
Guess we will have a calm night of studying and practicing.
You just want to make their lives easier somehow but they seem to be happy because they have never known anything different. William's family is moving into a better house this weekend. We were going to take his family to McDonalds tonight for dinner because they don't like our American food so we ended up taking them to get pizza. But, as is common, when his wife got home from work she didn't want to come back into the city - an hour ride on the bus. Can't say that I blame her! We were going to take them back home though. After seeing the housing of the poorer people here I was sad just thinking about seeing where they lived because I would probably be in tears. And that would be impressive ! Today when William came up to warm up his lunch he brought pictures of his kids because they had sent them out in the country for 15 days to visit their grandmother and wouldn't be here tonight. They are cute, well-kept children.
There is so much violence against women here. The last woman who started a campaign to stop the abuse was actually killed. I don't know how long ago that was but now there is another woman who writes articles on abuse, the causes, what to do, etc. Hope she survives! Of course much of it is the result of alcohol and drugs as it is in the States. You just want to protect every woman you know here in some way. The new government seems to be cracking down on the number of bars there can be in a specific area and are arresting and having shootouts with drug dealers. Plus stopping people who run red lights - which could be a full time job for thousands of people here. We have seen fewer people running the lights already. Guess that means that Scott is going to have to start obeying the law rather than following the car beside him!
We had our lesson with the returned missionaries yesterday. Only the new one showed up so it was a fun hour of teaching him because he learns so quickly. The bad thing is the other two will have to catch up which will slow him down. Being reliable is not too important to these people! We love them though - it has been fun teaching them.
I took our bedspread to the Casa to wash because it would never fit in our little washer. And of course after our Spanish class and temple visit I forgot to go get it. It has been difficult to get things dry enough with the humidity that they don't smell icky. They actually have dryers in the Casa. So Scott went back today to pick it up and get more area plan papers from Sister Button.
Spanish class was so frustrating for me yesterday. Elder Hammon is insistent that he is going to teach me - but when he singles me out I can't remember a thing! Most of the women there have much Spanish in their background so know so much more than I do. I will learn, I will learn, I will learn.....The verb conjugations in seven different tenses just drive me crazy. Scott has been talking to me more in Spanish and that does help. How I respect those young people who go into the mission field and have to learn a new language.
Guess we will have a calm night of studying and practicing.
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