11/5/2012

Today was a study day until afternoon when we had Spanish class.  It is a much more relaxed class for me since I usually know what Scott is going to teach.  And the saving grace for me today was I actually understood most of the Spanish in our FHE at the Bairs.  There were two native Spanish speaking couples that I could understand.  Halalooyuh!
    It is still damp here - always.  You hang clothes to dry and for two days they feel like they are still damp.  Even dry clothes feel damp. I baked cookies and some of them were not as done as they should have been but I thought if I left them out on the table they would firm up.  What a joke! Not only did they not firm up, the tops of all of the cookies were damp to the touch.  So different from at home.  Just  have to freeze them I guess.
    The Schmidts from Layton are here working as office people in the West Mission.  When I talked to Hannah the other day she knew them and said to ask them if they knew Doug Sill.  So today the opportunity arose when they came to class.  Sure enough - he even remembered having Hannah in school when he was a principal.  Both he and his wife were excited to hear Hannah is married to our son and they have a new baby.  Not nearly as excited as we are!!
   

11/4/2012 Sunday again!

  Have you ever been in the middle of hundreds of people and felt all alone?  That's how it is for me by the end of Sunday.  Everyone knows what is going on but you - it is such a lonely feeling.  This experience gives me much empathy for those who feel this way!  I am doing much better at communicating but still don't understand alot of the local speakers.
   In our many travels today I was reminded of the women here who, when it is raining, wear shower caps and grocery bags over their hair.  It is not unusual to see them in the store or on the street.  Those and the huge four inch rollers they wear to straighten their hair!
   We went to pick up the kids for church today and William came with two of his kids.  Scott was so happy to have him go with us.  I don't know what he will do for a job but we are praying for him.  So I went to Relief Society.  During the church meetings people and kids leave and go to get a drink of water.  They come back carrying a glass full of water which the kids are usually spilling - but no worries because all of the floors are tile.  They don't have drinking fountains.  They have 5 gallons water containers that they put on a stand that the bottles fit in and have a spigot of some kind that allows the water to come out. Plastic cups are stacked on top that's how they get drinks during church. This is a big ward with many little children who are allowed to run around during Sacrament meeting which makes it difficult to focus on the speaker. (For ADD people like me!) We dropped William and kids off and came back home to grab some lunch and all of the things we needed for two lessons.
   The directing lessons in San Cristolbal are always fun because it is mostly adults and they try hard to learn.  We were late leaving and so got to Oriental a little late but there were only three students there.  It must have rained very hard there because we drove a mile through water deep enough to make the car stall.  Thank heavens for tender mercies - we made it through!  I expected the water to start seeping in through the car doors.  We created these huge waves and everyone standing in their doorways obviously thought we were crazy as they shook heads at us in disbelief.  I certainly thought so too!   When we pulled up to the church one of the men that had just gotten out of his vehicle saw the front of our car and started to laugh and point.  Lo and behold, when I got to the front of the car Scott was pulling grocery bags of garbage from the grill of the car.  They must have been somewhere in the water because we didn't see them while going through the water.  (Of course I had my eyes closed most of the time waiting for the engine to die). Thought most of the kids would not be at the lessons but they showed up eventually!
   I have a few pictures of hurricane related things.  The paint on the walls and the rust on the fan -
since the walls are cement with many coats of paint the water runs from the window down the wall and leaves big bubbles in the pain.  Anything that can rust, will.  The metal chairs in the sunroom are all rusted as is our fan, the salt is coagulated in the salt shaker so you have to take off the lid and clean off the layer of salt covering the holes, and the clothes in the closet all smell like mildew - actually found some mildew on four of Scott's slacks. So much for the pictures - when I tried to download them it said there were over 900 pictures to download.  That's every picture I have taken for the last year and all but seven have already been downloaded!  So will have to have Sister Yturralde help me figure out how to change that.

11/2/2012

    The day began with Danny knocking on our door to tell us they were turning off the gas again because they had only been paid by the apartment owner for two months and still owed for four.  The manager of the apartments, Soyla, was determined to turn it off.  Scott convinced Danny that they were just punishing us, not the apartment owner by shutting it off.  As we left to go shopping William and Danny were in the parking lot talking to her.  We didn't stop because Danny was standing behind her and kept wagging his finger "no,no,no"  so Scott figured we would only cause more of a problem.
So we didn't really know if we could cook dinner or not.  So came home from Price Smart with a pizza big enough to eat for a couple of days!  We did pass all of the Christmas decorations on the street for sale:

      I was studying Spanish and Scott was practicing on the keyboard when someone knocked loudly on our bedroom door.  Scott leaves the family room door open because the iron gate is closed and he likes the breeze.  We have never had anyone come in and knock on the bedroom door - our office with air conditioning.  Scott went out  then came right back in with William.  William had just been fired and was almost in shock. Soyla, who has been known to do some dastardly things, fired him because there were two apartments for rent here.  She had some kind of a deal with the owner of one that she got some money each month if she got the place rented for him.  Well William did not know that and showed both apartments.  The renter took the apartment that was not the one she would get paid for and she was mad.  Scott and I both feel just terrible.  Scott took William over to see the Lee's
because they are apartment owners here and they said Soyla had the authority to do whatever she wanted.  How sad!!  William just sat and cried and both Scott and I wanted to cry for him.  I can't even imagine this place without William and his great big smile.  We have really grown to love him.  Maybe this is the Lord's way of helping him find a job that would allow him to go to church on Sunday with his kids.  It just all too sad to think about.
     The Eickbushes called to see what we were doing - they wanted to go out for dinner.  I knew how upset Scott felt and I wasn't much better so we would just mope around the rest of the night if we stayed here.  We went to this place called Sqinas or something like that.  We had heard they had good food there but had never been. We ordered different varieties of hamburgers.  They were all very good!  Then went to a little ice cream shop next door that my granddaughter Gracie would love because it was all done in bright orange and white.  I guess there's nothing like good food to take your mind off problems , unless it is good company.  I will never forget the day that Sheri died and I had been crying all day so looked like witch hazel(whoever that is).  They just stopped in to say "hi",  It truly was a tender mercy for both Scott and I.  Not them I'm sure!

10/31/2012

   What a great night - almost everything is working!  The power and the water have been off today but when we got home from the temple they were both back on.   As we pulled out to go to the temple we ran into Joel (the repairman) who had come to pay the back payments on the apartment owners bill so we could have gas - and promised to send someone up to get power back in our kitchen.  We may have everything working at the same time.  That hasn't happened for a long time.
  We certainly shouldn't complain when we see the mess the east coast is.
   "There is no parking in the gospel, either we are going forward or we are going backword."  Don't know where that quote came from but it was written on a card in my scriptures.  Probably a personal notice for me.....

10/30/2012

       Hallelujah!  The gas is back on.  Scott talked to the head lady this morning and told her they could have let us know they were shutting off the gas. so we could try to get ahold of the landlord.  So she reluctantly agreed to turn the gas on temporarily.   Now we have gas running into the stove but no electricity to start it.  Scott has been lighting it with a match - thus he no longer has hair on his hand!
We need one of those fireplace matches with the long stem.  We thought the power problem would be addressed by Joel today but no way - didn't hear from him at all.  Maybe tomorrow.....
We left for the Temple at 5:30.  I was so happy to see Sister ? was back.  She is the beautiful older woman who used to come every Tuesday but is handicapped and has been very ill.  She has the most serene countenance!  One of the male obreos is her son but I don't know if he brings her or just how she gets to the temple.
   As we drove out of the temple grounds to our apartment you could not help but feel the difference between the peace of the temple and the noise of the world.  What a blessing it is to be able to spend time in the temple.
   I hear Yturraldes in the kitchen.  They must have stopped by on their way home from the temple.  They live on the sixth floor up and by the time they get to our floor they are pooped so they stop for a break before climbing the last two floors.  It is great to have friends here!

10/29/2012

It's just 4:00 pm and we are supposed to be in Spanish class but here we are at home trying to straighten out yet another problem in our apartment.  Yesterday we couldn't get our stove to work and finally figured out that the gas wasn't getting through.  So now in the kitchen we have no power and no stove that we used to be able to light with a match if we didn't have power.  I wonder just what else could happen but don't want to find out!   Finally Danny came up and told us that the apartment owner had not paid the maintenance fee she owes the lady in charge of the apartments.  For five months - you would think they would have said something to us before they just up and turned off the gas.  We always get the threat of them shutting off the power because their electronic system somehow does not show them that the church has paid the bill.  That also happens with no notice.  One good thing happened in our apartment today - the water quit dripping from the ceiling in the bathroom.  Guess Joel was right about the water from the Hurricane causing a back up of water somehow.  Since we are on the 4th floor of an 11 story building and there are no open areas I just wonder how that happens.  The elevator is out for another six days so walking those flights of stairs has been good for us but not fun.
     All in all, I'm glad that night is here.  Maybe tomorrow we will get something or things fixed!  I don't know what has happened to Ekbert and his mother that we really enjoyed (they were in charge of this apartment) but for the last three months we haven't been able to get ahold of them at all.  Her phone is no longer in service and his is always full of messages.  I hope they are ok.
   

10/28/2012

     This early Sunday morning started with a shower in the shower!  It's not often you can stand in the shower and have water dripping down form the ceiling tiles.  It seems to be slowing down a bit though.  So we were off to pick up the kids for church.  When we got there Alta Gracie and her family were not there - they had no clean clothes.  I was just happy to hear they had no clean clothes instead if they had no clothes left.  We wanted to bring some of their clothes here to wash but alas - no water here.  So we ended up with only William's three kids.  Our students playing today were so far away we knew we couldn't get back to pick up the kids if we went.  First dent in our car in a land filled with dented cars.  Scott went to open the door to get out to go get the kids while a motorcycle was coming down the street with two men on, one setting on broom sticks.  Why they were driving so close to our car only they know but the broom sticks hit the car door which knocked the door into Scott's head.  Of course they just drove on as if nothing had happened. 
    No one had been in the church since the hurricane.  The Relief Society meets in the chapel - tile floors with no seating put up.  Eight or more of the sisters had mops and brooms and they were mopping and sweeping the water out of the room.  They don't have windows - just slats that open and close.  Plus they have a courtyard kind of like we used to have at the Rock Church.  It still had water standing on the cement entryway to the church and was going into the chapel under the door as well as through the windows.  The teacher had written on the chalkboard the lesson "Los Obreros de la Vina" - appropriate I thought.  It seemed strange to me that there were no men helping.  One of the sisters was opening the folding chairs, giving them a shove that sent them clear across the room on the wet floor!  I thought it was a great idea.   However as I was moving a couple of chairs a lizard scurried out in front of them. I was helping set up chairs and that was much better than walking across the slick floor to get them and carry them back.  But then the man who had looked in came back to help and was going to do it the right way.  It was hilarious when  chairs he had moved to set up slid and crashed noisily to the floor.  It was nice of him to come and help but was obvious these women know how to handle trying situations.  This was just those in the middle of the room!

When they realized I was taking a picture they wanted me to take another .

It was a great start to the day!

Guess what I saw at church today????  The first set of unpolished toenails I have seen.  If anyone, kids and all, are wearing shoes where their toes show, their toe nails are painted

.I can't seem to get the alignment to work!  We ended up with about 20 minutes for Relief Society. In every meeting as you are listening some vehicle goes by with sound things on top of their car and is either selling or looking for something or playing obnoxious music.  These people never bat an eye.

   After we located the kids for Sacrament meeting Scott told me he had volunteered me to play for them for Sacrament meeting since the one guy that plays was not there.  Keep in mind that playing for them is not like playing for someone in our home wards!  Plus you never know what they are singing.  Since it is October and they begin celebrating Christmas the last of September they chose a couple of Christmas songs. Just have to say it is kind of weird singing a Christmas song in October.

The good thing was we had a trunk full of keyboards so I got to play on something I play every day.

The kids and Scott sat up at the front with me and they were good.  Katty is fascinated by the music that comes from the keyboard. 

   We dropped them off and headed home to pick up a table, more books and teclados that we usually keep in the back seat.  We had 20 minutes to grab something to eat and get back on the road for Oriental.  Thank goodness the traffic was light and we got there fairly close to on time.

   When we get home at 7:00pm and climbed up the stairs with the equipment we were just grateful to be home. 

   I really appreciated being able to talk to most of my family - they are wonderful!  We are so blessed!