Day...um...I don't even know any more

Hi hi hi!

I didn't realize my last email was going to be a blog post. That was a twist. But oh well. The whole stream-of-consciousness thing seemed to work for the last one, so I'm gonna do the same thing for this one. Brace yourselves; it's Tuesday night and I didn't get to say much over Skype.

Our host family has a dog, Lulu. She's a Chihuahua, and she does not like people. It's actually kind of funny. Sometimes she'll come up and sniff our feet out of curiosity, the way dogs do, but then she'll remember she doesn't like us and scurry off. Think Oscar with an added touch of ADD.

Oh my gosh. Today for supper we had the best quesadillas I have ever had in my entire life. I am not even joking. They were creamy and dripping delicious cheese juice stuff and there was avocado in it but they must have done it right because it was still amazing. And then Arely - one of our main local people, is the best way I can think to succinctly describe her - brought us dessert, and I picked up this chocolatey muffiny piece of doughnut-glazed, sprinkled heaven. Mm. Definitely my favorite supper we've had.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that I fell out of the bathroom Sunday night. See, we have to wear flips when we shower, so of course mine were slick when I was coming out. The floors here are made of this very smooth ceramic tile, so when I stepped down out of the bathroom (and that's gotta be at least a foot), my foot just kept on going. Let's just say my left knee is no longer knee-colored.

My Spanish is slowly improving. I interpret better than I speak, which I suppose makes sense. My big problem is that I'll ask what a certain word is in Spanish, and the person I'm talking to will tell me...but then I'll forget a few minutes later. I hate that. But I am learning. And I feel bad because there'll be these little girls who talk to me, and they'll remember my name, but I won't remember theirs. I can hardly tell some of them apart. I guess I never realized how much I relied on hair and eye color to tell people apart. At least I think that's my problem. At any rate, I feel bad when I ask them "Como te llama?" (which is pronounced yama, not like the animal Kuzco turned into, and means "What is your name?") and they tell me...and I realize we were talking before. Cue mental facepalm. I'm bad enough with names when I speak the language! Ugh.

Also, I keep thinking, "Man, I really hope I don't sound like an idiot talking Spanish to them."

We played soccer this morning (Wednesday). Alex, Don, Cortney, and I - yes, I, the unathletic writer child - played with some of the kids. It was really fun! The first time Don got the ball, he slammed it! It went up over the fence and onto this roof that was about level with our field. The kids were amazed, and I gotta say, I was pretty impressed myself.

OH OH AND THERE WAS THIS BIRD THIS LITTLE BABY BIRD THE PASTOR CAUGHT AND HE TRIED TO GIVE IT TO RYLEE (apparently I was spelling her name wrong) BUT THE POOR LITTLE TERRIFIED THING FLUTTERED OFF BUT IT WAS TOO LITTLE TO REALLY FLY SO IT JUST SORT OF FLITTED AROUND TRYING TO GET AWAY AND THEN A LITTLE GIRL WHO WAS HANGING AROUND WITH US CAUGHT IT AGAIN AND HANDED IT TO ME AND I HELD THE LITTLE SCARED BIRDIE I DON'T KNOW IF YOU UNDERSTAND HOW EXCITED WE WERE ABOUT THIS AND THEN WE TOOK IT OUTSIDE HOLDING IT AS GENTLY AS POSSIBLE AND I OPENED MY HANDS AND IT SAT THERE FOR A MOMENT BEFORE IT FLUTTERED OFF AND IT WAS JUST SO CUUUUUUUUUUTE!!!!!

Yes, I washed my hands after touching the birdie.

Oh! And there was fish. The other day for lunch, we got these things folded up in foil, and someone said it was fish. I, of course, was not thrilled; but I got my ketchup out of my bag (I keep it in the backpack I carry around) and got ready to buckle down. But then I unwrapped the foil...and my fish was looking at me. All they had done was take out the guts - it wasn't scaled or anything. And actually, once I got over the initial "Oh! Hi, fishy!" and peeled the skin off and squeezed a lime over it, it wasn't half bad. I didn't even open the ketchup packet I had out.

I was most proud of me.

I'm finally accruing my bug bites. At least I'm used to them. Some things just never change, no matter where you go.

And I'm noticing that a lot of these kids seem to have names like we would give our kids, but with an accent. I'm pretty sure I talked with a Leslie on Monday, and there was definitely a Mabel somewhere. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but it wasn't this.

I wish you could meet Uriel. He's the guy from Mexico with the clown ministry, and he's a bundle of fun. His English is better than most of our Spanish, but it's not really his strong suit. But he has a huge heart for kids. And you should hear him say "God bless America." (Yes, I thought of Loki in Thor 2 when he said that.)

Tomorrow night I'm going to get to impersonate a chicken in front of the whole church. It's gonna be great. :D

Man, I wish I could show you guys pictures. My camera just isn't working. But when we get home I'm pretty sure people are going to upload theirs to Facebook, and they said they'd tag me, so I can show you then.

My left knee is no longer alone in its banged-up-ness. It's not my knee, but my right calf is scratched up from where I fell off a slide yesterday. Well, ok, I didn't really fall off the slide itself; I went down too quickly and overbalanced at the bottom. But it was worth it. Those kids were so thrilled when we all started making our way up the equipment. And honestly, if scratches and bruises are the worst injuries anyone receives this week, I say bring 'em on.

I was a clown today. I was Jellybean, and somewhat surprisingly, the kids loved us as much as they loved the other clowns yesterday. That language barrier reared its frustrating head again, but it all worked out. And there were so many pictures today! Everyone wanted team pictures, pictures with the clowns...it made me think of China. Even though I don't really remember China.

Tomorrow we're going to a children's hospital and possibly an orphanage. I'm a little nervous, especially because we're all going as clowns (well, everyone who has a costume), and crying would be not so good. I just think it's going to be really hard. I'd say pray for us, but I doubt I'll get to send this until after we get back, probably Friday.

Man, I can't believe how quickly time is going by! And at the same time it feels like we've been here forever. Is that normal?

Whenever people sneeze, I get the reflexive urge to say "Bless you!" But of course they don't do that here, so I'll pause for a second and mentally correct myself before saying "Salud!" (Which, I'm told, essentially translates to "Good health!").

Oh my gosh. I'm going through milk withdrawal. I don't think I've ever gone this long without milk. You might want to stock up on Sunday - it may not be very pretty. (It's Thursday night, by the way.)

We had our last church service today. Rylee, Cortney, and I celebrated when we realized what that meant: No more skirts! Yay!! And the next church service we attend will be all in English! Double yay!!!!

But we just found out we'll probably have to wear skirts on Saturday. Ugh. Oh well. We can deal.

My head does a weird thing here. At home, whenever rain comes in, I feel in in my sinuses. My face hurts. But here, I feel the pressure in my ears, like what happens when I fly. It's weird. But then again, this is me we're talking about.

I feel so tall sometimes. Most people here are short by American standards, so every so often I'll feel like a giant. We sat in the back at church on Sunday, and I could see clear over everyone's heads. It was weird.

I'm getting used to the cold showers a lot better than I thought I would. It's still a shock when I first step in, and I wouldn't say I enjoy them, but they're not too bad anymore.

It hasn't rained yet tonight (it's still Thursday, if you've lost track), which is weird. Usually we've had quite a bit by this point.

I feel like my mantra for this week is "Okay, what are we doing now?" Either that or the similar "Okay, where are we going now?" Sometimes I just want to follow an umbrella.

We went to the beach today! Friday, by the way. I was actually in the Pacific Ocean! I didn't go out far, just about to my knees, but still. I also laid in a hammock and read with the sound of the waves thundering in my ears. For lunch I had this amazing spaghetti Alfredo and the best lemonade I've ever had. It was great. The fish market? Not so much. Too many people, too much fish smell, not enough air. But it was kind of funny - this little girl followed us most of the way through the market. She wanted us to buy her stuff, but she didn't really say anything. She was so cute.

And after the beach and the fishing wharf, we went to this giant mall. Pizza Hut! Strawberry lemonade! Carbonated strawberry lemonade, and not milk, but still! AND THERE WAS AIR CONDITIONING AND IT WAS AMAZING.

I miss milk. But astonishingly enough, I haven't had to use any ketchup. YET. I think I may have heard something about a barbeque tomorrow? I'm not sure, but if I heard right, I'll almost definitely need it then - oddly enough, for one of the most American meals all week. Ah well.

It's Saturday now. We spent the morning shopping - I actually found stuff for all of you! Even Sam! I hope he likes it. I really wanted to get a knife, but wasn't sure where I'd put it at home. Oh well.

Anyway, I'll leave it at that for now. I'll be home tomorrow! Love you!

~Miracle