Las Palabras: I scream! You scream! We all scream for four degree weather!

Today I attended a different church than the one I went to last week. The one from last week didn't have any music--well that's not fair; they played two songs on a CD player. And maybe a whopping three of the fifteen people in attendance sang along. If you didn't get the hint, I wasn't impressed. The church also lacked a feeling of community. It didn't seem like anyone knew each other! So when I came across a different church nearby on my walk yesterday I thought I'd give it a try.

And I'm so glad I did!

This church (forgive me, I cannot remember the name) definitely stepped up the game regarding community. When I got there after walking the, oh, maybe twelve blocks, there were about seven other people there. I was worried that I had found another church like the first. But, as I don't have a watch and didn't have my phone turned on, I had no way of knowing that I was about twenty minutes early for Mass and they were only saying the rosary, not starting the Mass. *Whew!* Once I realized there were extra chairs set up at the end of the pews I thought, 'This is a good sign; they have a lot of people!' and I was right. The church was nearly full, the music--though acapella--was sung by a small choir at the front as well as the whole congregation (with the exception of those of us who didn't know the song because their music isn't in a book).

Random tidbit: The music at this Mass, last week's Mass at the other church, and the music at St. Bernard's in Crawfordsville's Spanish Mass has not been in any of the song books. The choir has music and the congregation seems to know the songs pretty well and sing it from memory. Is this a common thing for latino services?

After Mass was over I hung around in the church admiring different paintings and statues of saints. (I found another St. Therese here but didn't have my camera!) While I was taking in a beautiful sculpture of the crucifix, one of the smallest nuns I have ever seen came up next to me and out of the corner of my eye I saw her go back and forth from studying me to studying the crucifix. We both stood there a couple moments more then she broke the silence. "Es hermosa, no?" (It's beautiful, isn't it?) I agreed. She proceeded to tell me bits of history about the church, about half of which I understood. She asked me if it was my first time in that church and who I was with. When I replied that it was my first time and I was there alone, she replied, "Es bueno que te encontré!" which either means 'It's good that I met you' or 'It's good that I found you.' I'm not sure which meaning she had in mind but either way, I'm glad that she "encountered" me, too. Before parting ways, she told me her name is Dora and that she hopes to see me next week. She certainly will!

On my way home I stopped by a panadería and bought a danish with spiced cherry jelly--heavenly!--and four pesos worth of small biscuits which are common to have with tea for merienda or breakfast. I went home and had lunch with Gabi who just returned with Yaco from Buenos Aires around 6:00am. After lunch, I skyped with my parents and showed them the wine I bought last night. I think they were surprised but not in a bad way, so we're okay! (Love you guys.) Nancy and I then decided to go to the Feriál Artesanal (Artisan Festival). Gabi said it's a pretty cool place to go to buy handmade things and they always have interesting things to look at.

Well we found out that what we went to was not what we were looking for. What we found was a small tent near the mall (which is where we thought it was supposed to be) that sold only food.

Feriál Artesanal--food version

We decided to go the mall afterwards. Nancy has been on the lookout for a purse and I for some boots or a sweater with alpacas on it. We didn't have any luck--the only alpaca sweaters were for kids!--but take a look at one of their malls:

The awesome entrance to the third floor which is all an arcade/children's area!

Without luck in finding out sought-after items, Nancy and I decided we should celebrate National Ice Cream Day (US) even though we aren't in the states. We're proud of our heritage, right? So let's eat ice cream to that! We tried to find a Grido ice cream place around the area and actually couldn't which is crazy because they're everywhere! We decided we'd hop on a bus and stop at a kiosko near our house to buy ice cream...even though it was about 40 degrees Fahrenheit. Near the bus stop where we were waiting to be picked up was this amazing building: