Viva la Vida: 24 March 2014

¡Hola familia y amigos!

Viva la Vida is a Coldplay song, but it also means "Live Life." I'm not trying to sound like an American Eagle commercial when I say that we really do have the ability to just go out and live our lives, but we really do. Sometimes I feel like we tether ourselves down with unnecessary boundaries.. an ever growing list of "What if's" and "if-onlys" and etc etc etc..but they're mental. Take them off, untie them, and throw them on the ground Andy Sandberg style. And then run and do the thing you've always wanted to do but have never done.

Suitcase Heart: 17 March 2014

¡Hola familia y amigos!

They fumigated all of Fundeci (the apartment complex we live in) this week, which means our house is basically just a graveyard for cockroaches.  I wonder how many times I've used the word "cockroach" in my emails.  Far too many. Someone should count and tell me.

Siete Oop: 3 March 2014

¡Hola familia y amigos!

Siete Oop is how my Nicaraguan friend pronounces 7Up.  (In Spanish the letter "U" is the "oo" sound.)  I believe I mentioned this in a previous email, but Pizza = Pixa and Pepsi = Pexi as well, haha.  

Other random Spanish fact: there are two forms to express the word "you"--Usted (the formal version), and Tu (informal/personal). Here, they use a different version, the "vos" form. It's pretty much just like tu but maybe even a little bit more personal. I didn't pick up on it until recently, but now I hear it all of the time. Not allowed to use it (missionaries, ya know . . gotta use the more formal form), but there ya go.

Guinea Pigs and Miracles: 24 February 2014

¡Hola familia y amigos!

I had to walk home from the Central of Leon in jeans today because we got on the wrong bus, and it felt so weird.  I'm always, always in a skirt, and walking down the same streets I pass by every day in pants felt scandalous. I seriously felt naked. The cat calls don't help, either. "Ay! psst psst psst, Gatita! Chelita! Que bonitas ojos tienes!" commence with snapping and clapping, because logically I would respond to those things.  "WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME HAVEN'T YOU EVER SEEN A WHITE PERSON BEFORE??" Geeze.

Spanish lesson of the week: Ulitos = little hair ties. Culitos..... hahaha well, you can google it. But I can assure you I don't want them anywhere near my hair.

99 Isn't 100: 17 February 2014

¡Hola Familia y amigos!

I am in a strangely flippant mood at the moment, and the curtain that is adorning the window I'm sitting in front of keeps smacking me periodically in the face, which isn't helping anything.  So, it will be interesting to me to see what I came up with at the end of this letter.  Also the whole "Relying on my journal and just copying things down" thing just isn't going to happen anytime soon, or ever, because I haven't written a single thing in the last two weeks.  It's because I'm a mom, and training is hard.  Worth it, though. I just don't think I've ever worked this hard in my life. Expect spelling errors and sentences that make no sense.

Water Bottle Showers: 10 February 2014

¡Hola familia y amigos!

Let me explain to you the logistics of a water bottle shower.  A water bottle shower is when you're in the shower (which is about as ghetto as it gets--a metal hose attached to the ceiling that spouts freezing cold water onto a concrete floor) and completely covered in soap (because you feel disgusting and you are disgusting and so you feel the need to lather every inch of yourself with an unnecessary amount of body wash), and then, whilst in the midst of your soapy haven, the water decides to cut out on you completely.  So you are then left with no other choice but to ask your companion if she has any water available, and after some searching, she comes up with two small water bottles she has been keeping in the freezer.   Thus is born the water bottle shower. A freezing, miserable experience, and at the end of it, you are pretty much just as soap-covered as before.

It's Not Your Turn: 3 Feb 2014

!Hola Familia y Amigos!

I ate Chinese food this week! We went out to eat with Roger and his lovely girlfriend, Patricia (Whom we are teaching!!! Aaahh! Huge news because she has been agnostic for years and was super angry about Roger getting baptized . . . at first. Then she met us and now she loves us. Boom. Success.), and I can now say I have eaten the Nicaraguan version of Chinese food. It wasn't bad, but definitely not the best I've ever had.  Our waiter tried to talk us out of what we decided on ordering and was kind of rude about it, and it reminded me of the Chinese food incident my family and I had in Ireland.

The Justice of Oranges: October 21, 2013

Hola familia y amigos!

Okay, wow.  I don´t even know where to begin--there is so much to say!
 Leaving the CCM was sad, and I am pretty sure I took the last hot shower I
will have in 17 months, but I was ready to go and teach actual people and
not just my teachers, although Hermano May truly was fantastic.  He might
just be a General Authority someday; I wouldn´t be surprised.

So here´s what happened in a quick blerb: woke up at 4, got ready and
weighed my luggage (both of my suitcases were exactly 50 lbs, hallelujah),
got on the bus at 6:30, drove to the airport, went through airport
security, and after waiting in the airport for about 2 hours (and talking
to a nice stranger about the Church and Star Wars), boarded a plane for
Panama!   On the flight, I made yet another Spanish mistake.  Juicio =
Justice.  Jugo = Juice.  But, I mixed up the two, and when the stewardess
came over I asked her for Juicio de Naranjas, or, the Justice of Oranges.
 She laughed and corrected me.  But I stand by my statement. They have been
oppressed for too long.  Drink apple juice, my friends.

Made it safe! October 18, 2013

ONly have 30 seconds, but I am safe and sound. I'll email you all about everything this coming monday! love you all!

Cara