2/19/2013

    Here it is Tuesday night and we have nothing ready for the recital on Sunday.  If our coming days weren't so busy it wouldn't be so stressful but I don't know when we are going to get everything done.  Of course Scott isn't worried!  I wish I could be more like that.
    I hadn't had a chance to study Spanish for days so Monday morning I washed and cooked and studied Spanish.  When you wash you have to be right by the little washer so it makes it easy to cook there in our little kitchen while you wash.  You take two steps and you are at the washer, two back and you are at the sink so it's all good.  Not much exercise though.
     Scott went to Elder Haws Spanish class and left me the car to drive up to the Casa for his lesson and Family Home Evening.  I've only driven a couple of times  here before and I wondered if I would have a panic attack when a car came at me like they do.  Well, the Lord has blessed me every time I have driven - - no cars coming within inches of hitting me!  
      Family Home Evening was at the Casanovas. They work at the temple in the temple presidency.  The only other couple there was the Freestone.  He is the MTC president here.  For me it was a treat to have them there because they speak Spanish I understand.  Our scripture to read was where Nephi said he would go and do what the Lord commanded because he knew that the Lord wouldn't give him something to do that He would not provide a way for him to do.  It struck me again just how true that is!  Here we are - being called to something we really aren't qualified to teach and yet if you heard Scott teaching you would think he was a college professor of music!  Just today he said, "When we were at home if you would have told me I was going to be teaching conducting lessons, keyboard lessons, cutting and coloring my wife's hair. teaching Spanish lessons; I would have told you that you were crazy - not in a hundred years would I be doing any of those things!" So never say never...
   Today I spent time studying Spanish and typing up lists of students so I will have them for the report I have to turn in to the area secretary before we leave.  I type the lists from their signatures and then take them to the classes to have them tell me if they are right because you would not believe some of these names!  We had a music class at the Santo Domingo Stake at 6:30 pm so left here at 5:45 and decided to try a different route. It is only a couple of miles from home.  We got stuck in the worst traffic jam we have seen here - it took us 45 minutes to go around the block.  When we got there the phone was ringing to ask us if we were coming and all of the students were sitting out on the curb.  The class was huge tonight - 26 students.  We are going to divide the class in two and will be teaching Thursday after our Institute lesson there.  The funniest thing was they wanted to sing "High on the Mountain Top" for the opening song.  And just where are the mountain tops here???  I'm sure they have some - just haven't seen many of them.  But you know how usually after the first verse they pick up the beat and some of the notes - well that didn't happen.  I had no idea where they were most of the time.  The first verse I tried to find where they were and play there, the second verse I decided to play the way it is supposed to be sung and maybe they would catch on. But nooooooooo....
It was by far the worst experience playing for the Dominicans to sing I have ever had!! So for the closing song I asked Scott to do the song again and make them sing it like it is supposed to be. After two or three times they finally got it.  They obviously do not sing with a piano!
     One of the women brought a box with some mangos and some other kind of fruit:

This is the other kind of fruit she brought.  This is the best looking one, the rest look like they should have been thrown away weeks ago  but I guess that just means they are ready to eat.  Cajuil is the name. It stunk up the whole car.  I guess they eat the fruit, which is a mass of stringing slimy stuff then cook the seed and eat it like a nut.  Scott drank some of the juice and tried a little bit of the fruit but the smell just made me sick!  The best things I have eaten for a long time werethe kiwi and blueberries today!

2/17/2013

    Getting off to a good start today.  We had talked to Oglavidia (still don't know how to spell her name) last night and she was going to have the kids ready by 8:30 so we could be to church on time.  Of course that is the plan every week and we rarely get away from their place until around 9:00am.
We were early going out to the car and everything - just to find we had a flat tire!  The  spare tire was on the back of the car but the jack inside so we had to unload all of the keyboards, cords, music books from the back of the car to get the jack.  Problem was the tire was locked with a special lock to the rear door of the car.  We finally got the flat tire off but could not get the new tire off the door of the car.  Scott called the man who does the work for the mission cars here and he said we should have the car key and one other key to open the lock.  Well we had the the car key but the other key was no where to be found.  So Scott decided to get a taxi to take him to a tire shop and get the flat tire fixed.  That is why I am blogging this morning!  It was so hot out there in the sun by the car I loaded everything back into the back seat of the car and came back to the apartment with air conditioning  So who knows what we will get to.  On normal Dominican time it would take up to four hours to fix the tire.  Of course if we knew the name of the little guy who flattened and fixed our tire once before he could fix it in no time!
   Here it is nighttime.  Just as Scott was leaving to find a taxi this morning a neighbor from upstairs was on his way to the beach and asked if he could take Scott to have the tire fixed.  So in just an hour he was back and ready to go.  Meanwhile we had called Oglavidia to tell her we weren't coming so then we wanted to find some ward that had Sacrament meeting last so we could attend.  There is only one stake we know of that has Sacrament meeting last and we were far away from there.  We went to the Gasque Stake where we teach.  Got there in time for Sunday School but they had Sacrament Meeting first.  Elder and Sister Ferguson were there along with many sets of missionaries who are always glad to see old missionaries.  Must remind them of home!
  Anyway that gave us some extra time to eat before we left for San Cristobal.  It's 30 miles or so out there but very scenic.  Like my eyes are open - great napping time for me!  It is always difficult for the students to learn how to play the keys from the music.  They start by learning to play by finger numbers - which is so confusing to me.....
   Made it on time to Oriental where some of our students were actually waiting.  I know that I am supposed to learn patience on this mission.  It drives me crazy to have other kids milling around in the classroom distracting the students.  Scott can do that man single minded stuff so he just blocks it out.  Then there is the matter of the Stake Choir director who was organizing the recital who was made the stake Relief Society Pres. and hasn't had time to do anything.  I can understand that.  But here I am not being able to communicate really well and have to leave working out the details of the recital to Scott. And you all know how working out details is for a man.  I know - I should just get over it and realize things here are not like they are in the states.  Three of the kids said they had decided they were not going to play in the recital.  One of the  boys got so nervous while rehearsing for the recital that he go up and left and did not come back.  One of the girls who said she wouldn't play came back and said she would play.  Who knows what will happen.  Now we are responsible for the programs, diploma papers, the refreshments, etc so it will be a busy week for me.  Then one of the girls who is leaving on a mission wants to play "Book of Mormon Stories" and have everybody sing.  Scott doesn't like that idea. If it goes like everything else here half of the students won't show up at the recital anyway!  It was sad to look around the room at these students and realize that after next week we won't be seeing them again.
      Anyway, I am glad to be home and getting ready to go to bed.  We got to skype with Joe, Hannah, and Samson so that made a great ending to our day!

2/16/2013

   Well it is Saturday night and I am not nearly as beat as I was last Saturday.  That could be because our 5:30 lesson cancelled. On the drive along the ocean to La Caleca there were orange leaves floating through the air and onto the road.   I couldn't see the leaves on the trees so couldn't imagine where they were coming from.  As we turned the last corner to go to the church there were two trees with leaves that were turning orange and falling to the ground.  Aha !  Fall at last!  Who knows what season they think it is..  It is the first sign of leaves changing color and dropping off the trees that I have seen and here it is January.
    Our class at Caleca was a fun one today.  They are beginning to play the finger number hymns and are so excited.  Wish it was that easy for them to learn to play the actual notes. When we left class four of our students were climbing on a motorcycle:

    Bet that is comfortable for the one sitting on the gas tank!
       We left there in time for our 12:30 lesson at Las Melinas.  They have someone come each week and start the generator so we can have power for the keyboards.  We had four more students than we had keyboards so they were sharing.  It was a bit like musical chairs!  Towards the end of class Scott was in the middle of lecturing about something and I noticed his teaching must have been more physical than mine:

         His shirttail was all the way untucked!  Didn't see him doing anything that active and he hadn't left the room.......  Who says teaching music isn't rough????

           Left there in time to get out to our 3:00 pm lesson at Hainamosa.  There was no power - so no
air-conditioning or electricity to run the keyboards.  It was ok for the first lesson because we are still on conducting.  We started with 10 and ended up with 14.  Scott was so frustrated because we are three weeks into the lessons and he has to start from the first with the new students.  They told us that there are four more coming next week.  That's it.. . .we can't just keep starting at the beginning again  or we will never get to the end. This class has as many non-members as it does members.  They had just heard from others about the class but they have not even announced it in the wards yet.  So that could mean trying to work in another lesson tine for another group.  Paciencia - paciencia- pctiencia..
That's what Pres. Anderson tells us every time we meet with him.  If ever there was a place that you needed to exercise patience, it is hear.  Our 5:00 class was cancelled because there was no power.
In all honesty, that was just fine with me!!!  Not a very dedicated teacher, am I.  One sweet thing happened in Hainamosa.  The older man who plays the guitar and used to open the building for us brought us his favorite American song book - with music only Melia could play.  But he wanted to give it to us because it had been "such a pleasure to know us" .  Sweet, huh?!
  I have noticed one thing - white people look pretty pastey these days.  One of the new couples here is in our Spanish class with another new couple from Africa.  The Ewells had served a mission in  Africa.  When we introduced Elder Ewell to the African couple, he threw up his arms and said, "I am so happy to see you.  You don't know how good it is to see a face with color." 
   For the last three weeks as we have driven home from Hainamosa, there have been these guys dressed in these white costumes with gorilla masks.  It actually has been a bit frightening because they are right in the road.  Finally got a picture of one tonight:

  When we got home Yturraldes were looking out their window and called to invite us up to supper.  That was so nice for us because we hadn't been home all day!  Still hope they don't leave until we do.....       

2/15/2013

   It is amazing how quickly time passes when you want to accomplish so many things - and don't get it done!  I am going to bed early tonight hoping tomorrow's twelve hour day won't be so tiring.  Think it will work?? 

   We left at 8:00 am for a devotional at the area office building.  Picked up Mahons and got there early.  Our area presidency, Elder Neil Anderson, Elder Rashband were in the area so they gathered all of the area workers together for a meeting.  You know what was great about the meeting?  I could understand 85% of the Spanish they spoke - didn't even need the translator headphones.  It took alot of concentration and focus (which I am not good at)  but I did it and was just so happy.  Pres. Anderson talked about us always having two voices that we can trust when all around us is going haywire.  Those are the voice of the spirit and the voice of the prophet.  That is comforting to know that no matter what happens in the world there are two sources of help and information that will never fail us.  Elder Rashband talked about being unified in our different jobs.  In the area office building they have many employees that work for the church in the Caribbean area.  There are facilities directors, CES directors, lawyers, car pool, auditing, public relations, etc.  Elder Anderson talked about not putting your testimony in danger by being offended by someone who is not living up to the standards you expect them to.  It was interesting because he said, "If you are losing your testimony because your boss is also a stake president and not living as you think he should, quit your job.  No job is worth losing your testimony but you must know that you will be offended.  It is up to you to let it go or let it destroy relationships and testimonies.  No one is perfect."

It was a short but very good meeting.  Still didn't get home until noon though.

   We had two Spanish classes this afternoon which both turned into gospel learning classes because they wanted to know what the devotional had been about.  We were supposed to be at the Dunfords at 6:00 for dinner but didn't get there until 6:30.  They had a Chinese New Years dinner the week before that we could not get to so they put some in the freezer for us.  We had a fun time with them.  They are from Georgia and are here doing public relations for the Church.  They had purchased an electronic bug killer that zaps bugs right out of the air.  Pretty impressive!

 

2/13/2013

   Life here in the mission field is much busier so time is flying by!  We had our lesson at the Institute this morning.  There is little that is as much fun as it is to watch these students open up the teclada bag for the first time.  They are so excited to learn - it is too bad that it gets difficult and not quite so much fun.  No pain, no gain I guess.... We did find a gurney thing to haul our 12 tecladas to the elevator and into the room we teach in.  Then got their 8 out so it took a little while to get going them all out and plugged in to various extension cord outlets or whatever those things are called.
Tomorrow we have twenty four in the class so I don't know how we will do that.  These college kids are fairly strong personalities - can' t quite see them being willing to share. If you spend too much time helping one of them you have two more saying "hey, teach me,  I want to know that too". What fun it is to get to know them though!
     Went shopping to two different stores so you can imagine my husband wasn't all that excited.  Can't wait to go shopping by myself again - and not have to depend on him for so many things.  Communication is tough but getting better.  It just amazing how you can understand some people and yet not have any idea what others are saying!  We have been so busy I haven't spent as much time studying Spanish so I need to make time for that.  Scott keeps looking for the "tire fixer" guy so he can turn him in but we haven't seen him again.
    We made it to the temple tonight for the 7:00 session.  Didn't see a person getting ready or in the hallway so thought we would be the only ones there but there ended up being quite a few in the session.  Many different people work on Wednesday so it is fun to see them.  I miss the women in the Tuesday sessions - they are great! We won't make it there again on Tuesday because we have the lesson for Santo Domingo.  The one class is soon to become two so when the other class is to be taught has to be decided.
    Valentines Day must be a big thing here.  In every store they had rows of "stuff" that people were sorting through.  Hope it's a happy day for all of our loved ones!

2/12/2013

    It's a cool night - no air conditioning needed!  Very nice to have it cool down a bit at night.  I am already dreading those hot days of spring and summer with sweat running down your neck and back.  What is amazing is that these dark skinned people rarely sweat.  Maybe they are just used to the heat!
    I had time to do laundry and study Spanish today along with our other daily studies. It will be nice to have a washer that washes by itself and actually cleans clothes and a dryer  that dries them when we get home.  I should never complain after seeing how AltaGracie and Oglidia have to scrub their clothes in a bucket one by one on the only day of the week they have water and lay them over whatever they can find outside to dry.  The kids are always amazingly clean....
   We had a class at the Santo Domingo Stake center tonight.  We started it last week with 12 last week and tonight had 10 more.  Have got some pictures:

Poor girl - Scott drew that beautiful pentagram and she was supposed to do two measures of notes that were 3/4 time. 

These are some of the youngest students who were trying to clap out the rhythm of the song.
  When we got to class they brought in 30 workbooks that they had printed off and bound.  How amazing!  It will help their stake so much to have the books to work with.  President Olivero was out playing ball with a bunch of boys but came in 1/2 and hour later in his white shirt and tie to make sure everything was going ok.  He is the guy in the white shirt standing in the picture of the group. Mr. Cool actually was much more likeable today as he brought a cute young boy with him and helped him throughout the lesson.  The boy isn't in the picture and that is too bad because he was all the same color - brown/yellow hair, eyes, skin, shirt and pants.  Have never seen anyone blend so well!  The lesson was going great until everything got quite (I was sitting at the keyboard working on the role).  I looked up and everyone, including Scott was looking at me expectantly.  Guess he had said I would play a song for them and I hadn't heard.  These people are so polite they don't even laugh when you do something stupid.  (At least until they get to know you)
 

2/11/2013

    We had a lovely morning talking to the kids and recovering from our last two 12 hour days. Had Spanish classes this afternoon and scheduled another music lesson out in the country for Wednesday afternoons.  Had the new couple from Korea that are from Africa but he was a teacher and had to flee for his life there.  It was three years later that his wife heard from him and knew he was living.  Three years after that she finally was allowed to go to Korea to be with him.  While in Korea  they joined the church.  They speak a little English but mostly French and need to learn Spanish.  So having them in Spanish Class today was difficult for both them and the teacher who did not know French.  They know nata.  They are such a cute couple who look completely lost - and we all know what that look feels like!  I think they will have to find someone who knows French to help them learn Spanish.  We will see what happens. 
   FHE followed Spanish where the Ewells and the Johnsons introduced themselves.  The Dunfords had invited us over for a Chinese dinner which we couldn't make it to so we were trying to figure out when we could get together.  You wouldn't think it would be so difficult.. The Eickbushes will be leaving next month - very sad for us because they are some of our best friends This is their second mission in four years so she is excited to get home and get some of her things done.  They and the Leavitts go out to Los LLanos on Sundays - that is where we are going to start next Wednesday afternoon.  It takes an hour and fifteen minutes just to get there but one of the desires of my heart was to be able to give some of the poor branches the same opportunity the city wards have.  That is the ward we have visited that had the "golf cart decorated taxi".  There area could be something out of an old movie.  I love it! Plus we have the opportunity to spend time with the Leavitts who will be going out with us.
     Alta Gracie came up to tell us goodbye today.  Wow - everyone we have known well will be gone.  It makes both of us very sad!  Don't know what she will do to provide for her family.