Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Awesome Comes in a Bag


Sunday, 14 July

Sunday morning.  With one of our windows in our room cracked open, Nancy and I woke to the sound of many church bells chiming out across the neighborhood.  The usually noisy streets were almost still and only the sound of bells could be heard.  What a wonderful way to wake up.

I had tried the night before to research online what time Mass is held in the church nearest our house (about five blocks away) and found one site that said 10:00.  So Nancy and I headed out at 9:40 but only to find that the church gates were locked.  I saw a sign on the church doors that read "Domingo 11:00-23:00" but I highly doubted that Mass lasted 12 hours so I didn't know what time the service started.  We went back to the house and when I saw it was 10:45, I headed back out and found that it indeed starts at 11:00.  As for the meaning of the sign, I'm not sure; I was out of there at noon.

Sunday, like Saturday evening, was another very nice laid back, chill kind of day.  Nancy and I hung around the house with Yaco and Lucho and Gabi most of the day.  Nancy taught Yaco and Lucho how to play the card game "War" though it was a very different way than I've ever played it.  Then Yaco showed us some more of his magic tricks.  This kid is so in to magic tricks, I can't explain.  He absolutely loves card tricks but he finds all kinds of magic interesting.  He and Lucho showed Nancy and I a coin trick in which the magician has the coin in one hand then flips both hands over and the coin is in the other hand.  I was completely fascinated by it and Lucho was more than happy to teach me how to do it!  I felt totally awesome and when I showed Gabi, she was amazed and didn't know how I did it so I feel pretty confident that when I make my tour in the States I'll capture my audience.

With Yaco and Lucho doing all the teaching of new tricks, I wanted to teach them something in return. I knew that Yaco likes the drums so I decided to teach everyone Cups (like in the movie Pitch Perfect). They LOVED it and picked it up pretty quickly!  I then showed them how they can drum anywhere with two pens or pencils on the table using your wrists and the tips of the pencils.  Yaco liked this one for it's versatility and variety and soon he was making up all kinds of sick beats.  (Nancy and I tried to think of how the use of 'sick' as I just used it translates into Spanish but we ended up saying interesting. I hope my slang vocabulary builds while I'm here!)

After Lucho headed home, it was time for dinner.  Gabi prepared patties similar to hamburgers only the patties were vegetarian made of lentils, flour, and brown rice.  They were very tasty!  A little dry compared to other veggie burgers I've had (perhaps because we had it without bread or condiments?) but they had a very nice flavor.  She served the patties with papas de puré (mashed potatoes) and get this: it's a custom here to put mustard and/or mayonnaise on your mashed potatoes!  When Yaco began squeezing the bag (yes, the bag) of mayonnaise onto his potatoes, Nancy and I just looked at him a little concerned.  But, when in Rome...  It was actually really quite tasty!!

Random tidbit: I think all condiments here come in either a bottle like in the States and in a bag with a screw cap--your choice!  I would definitely choose the bag.  Awesomesauce.

After our heavy dinner, Gabi said we should walk a bit of it off.  We jumped on the offer when she said she'd walk us down the route to take to get to el centro from her house.  It's really quite close which is nice.  We enjoyed the brisk walk in the cool night air and got to see just a smidgen of the night life on this side of town.  I don't think I'm ready to jump into the night life here yet but I do plan to at some point.  It's so much a part of the culture how can I not?

Abrazos,
Jessica

P.S.  Shout-out to my dad: Feliz cumpleaños, papi!  Happy Birthday, Dad!  I hope it was a great one.  I wish I could have been there but I know it's good that I'm here and I feel that you think so, too.  Love you, Dad.

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