Today started out well.
Got up at about 7:50 AM, took a shower, and then got ready and dressed
for church. We were running a tad late,
so Christina and I just took some slices of bread with us to eat for
breakfast. (I had to be there early to
practice with Ellora. She sang in
sacrament with me accompanying her). We
arrived at church at about 20 til, only to find the gates locked. So, we had to wait a little (it was just a
few minute) before going inside.
Ellora and I practiced for just a few minutes (she sang “Teach
me to walk in the light”) I must admit,
I have never been grossed out by a piano before, but today, that piano
seriously grossed me out. It was just
so…oily! It was gross. Nevertheless, I played (germ-xing my hands
directly afterwards). I’ll admit, with the
practice, I was nervous. Mainly because
during practice, I played awfully.
Following practice, I played the interlude music for
sacrament meeting. (Which also didn’t go
to well. But, ya know, it’s the thought
that counts right?) It wasn’t long until
sacrament started. Which, at the last
minute, they realized they had put up the wrong musical number (it was
originally the hymn “Praise to the Man” but then it was corrected to “Let us
All Press On.”) Kinda had to fake my way
through that one. (I have never been
able to play Let us All Press On well. I
was fine with Praise to the Man, but obviously that was not the song we sang. I couldn’t help but think to myself, “I’ve
been tricked!” :P) Then, for the second
hymn, I’d looked at it previously and was like, that’s easy enough. Needless to say, I ended up biting my
tongue. That song did not go over well,
either. However, I was so proud of
myself because, I didn’t really get nervous.
I just told myself, “Hey, this is the last time you’ll be playing the
piano, in Mexico, at church. So just
enjoy the experience.” So I just kind of
drunk it all in, not caring about all the mistakes I made.
Luckily, though, Ellora’s song went without a hitch. She sang it beautifully! And I managed to play it with no
mistakes. #success
The final song of the meeting was a strictly Spanish song
(i.e. a song only found in the Spanish hymn book). In other words, I didn’t know it at all. Luckily, it was just a simple 6/8 song. And I guess I must have played the rhythms
right because no one threw tomatoes at me.
(Not that they would. They are,
after all Mormons).
But enough with the piano playing. I must do a quick shout out to Christina, who
did a fabulous job today on her talk! She
spoke so well! I enjoyed listening to
it. #yourock
After church, we got picked up by MM. (Who took Brandon home as well). On the drive back, MM stops the car (at the
stop sign) to make a call. I was
confused (she’s never done this before), until I realized it was MM’s
husband. It didn’t take long for me to
catch that MM’s husband was saying that someone had robbed her parent’s house,
and that her husband was already in a taxi en route to the house. Needless to say, MM dropped Brandon off right
there (it was just a block from his house) then sped us home. She asked us if we were hungry, and I said,
“Oh no, we’re good!” (A big fat
lie. We were starving, but I didn’t want
her to worry about us. It was much more
important that she see to the needs of her parents first). So she dropped us off at the house, waited
until we made it inside, and then zoomed away.
Needless to say, Christina and I headed to the kitchen and
got a little snack (MM told us that she wasn’t sure when lunch would be
because, ya know, that whole robbery thing).
I had some toast with PB and frosted flakes. Following that, Christina and I laid down for
a nap (I’m sure we talked a little before doing so. In fact, I believe we talked about Days for
Girls and about what it was like to be a woman back in the day.
After the nap, we had lunch (we were awoken by MM’s husband
on their return). Which was
exciting. Most of the time was spent
talking about the robbery.
So, I guess the robber had tried to break the window, but
that didn’t work. So then he broke
through the door. Everything in the
house had been ransacked, with things thrown all over the place. Though not much was taken, I don’t
believe. The robber escaped through the
back by climbing up the plants (or something like that). Sounds like it was someone desperate for
money (which, you know, with how poor some people are here, I wouldn’t doubt
it). So yeah. It was frightening for the poor couple. But by the end of the meal, the grandma seemed
a lot calmer.
After lunch (and chatting with the family for a good hour),
we headed back to our room and chatted about the Word of Wisdom (why you may
ask? Well, for desert today we were
offered cake made with coffee. Which, I
didn’t realize till I’d taken a bite of it.
And even then, it took a moment to register. The grandma felt bad that she’d brought a
desert we couldn’t eat, but we were like, No worries!! Anyway, of course, after that, a discussion
ensued about caffeine versus coffee and tea and all that jazz. So, Christina and I tried to do some research
on why it’s okay for us to drink caffeine, but not coffee and tea. Course, after all the research I did on caffeine
today, I’m uh, probably not ever going to drink it again, sick or not. That stuff is SO bad for you. And yes, you can overdose on caffeine. And yes, it can kill you. Just something to think about).
About 5:30 PM Claire and Ellora showed up at our house to
offer us a ride to FHE (we had FHE tonight because one of the students is
leaving tomorrow). They ended up staying
for a while because FHE wasn’t until 7 PM.
We were shewed to our room by the adults, so we ended up just hanging
out in our room talking until it was time to go. (We picked up the rest of Claire’s house on
the way over there. It was pretty
entertaining, fitting seven people into a honda. Four in the back, three in front. Claire ended up sitting on my lap. Malena was super funny and did “brake tests”
several times. Luckily, we survived :P)
We made it to Raquel’s house in one piece. We then talked and waited for everyone else
to show up. When they did, we had
food! Spaghetti and some type of Mexican
food, planichas? A pineapple drink. And some carrot cake and ice cream to
follow. (I realized today that no, I
really don’t like carrot cake. So how
have I grown up thinking all these years that it’s my favorite??? I think I get spice cake and carrot cake
mixed up. Because I do like spice
cake).
Following food, we had this nice little slide show of
pictures from the trip, done by Raquel (she did a smashing job!) Followed by a walk down memory lane (aka,
everyone shared their favorite part from the trip. Mine was basically thanking them for all the
support they gave me as they helped me through my fears. Kinda got choked up during it, which I was
not expecting. What can I say? I hate goodbye activities).
After that, Christina and I walked home. It was a lovely evening. We had a good time talking about our favorite
memories and things that we learned. I think
I’m going to compose a list of my favorite things and what I learned for the
last blog.
As for now, we were working on homework (a presentation on
google docs), but the internet went out.
So I ended up writing this blog in Word and posting it today. (Dern internet) So, yep.
Buuut, we have bomb plans for tomorrow! (Well, today, now). We are going to go to the beach and
study! For rizzles. I’m super excited.
‘Til Later,
R J Carr
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