20 May 2013

The good news is that I can understand my companion most of the time, although sometimes I don't understand until after I've asked her to repeat a couple times. With everyone else, my level of comprehension is all over the map. I can't tell you how many times I've looked at my companion blankly after someone asks me a question. Part of it is the accent but my comp also said I need to learn the local expressions and slang in order to understand.

The greatest shock about my living area is the lack of water. We have one primary source of water in our little house: a spigot in our shower area. We use the spigot to fill a bucket. We then use that water in the bucket to bathe, wash our hands, and presumably to wash dishes. We haven't washed dishes yet. I need to learn how to manage that trick. I'd like to do some cooking at home, but it would be really hard with our water situation. For now we eat quite a bit at other homes. We pay someone to cook our lunch and the ward is really good about lining up dinners. My companion isn't really into breakfast, but today I bought a box of cereal upon which I can subsist. I hear the water situation is better in some areas, so maybe after I learn to really be grateful for water I can go to one of those areas for part of my mission :) Also, the water is only on from 5 in the morning until 6 at night. Sometimes the lights go out and with them the water. When the lights go out, we have to return to our house  because it's dangerous to be out. So far they've gone out two nights in my few days here. They come back on eventually. But it's highly disruptive to teaching! Even when the lights stay on President Veirs wants the Sisters to return home at 8:30 for safetey.

Our area is pretty small. That's probably a blessing on two counts. I think it saves me some walking while my foot is working on getting stronger and hopefully I'll be able learn the area a little more quickly. Yesterday was my first Sunday in the ward, but I am the automatic pianist the whole time I'm in this area and probably in many others. Before I came, they used CDs as accompaniment.

At the change meeting, President Veirs said we were mostly in our missions, but that there would probably be some changes at the next meeting when the mission will split. As it stands, I am in the East mission, but we'll see for sure in a few weeks.

Today for p day, we got together as a zone. One of the sisters is from El Salvador and with her help we made papusas, which are a big deal in El Salvador. They were really tasty. Papusas, like almost everything else here it seems, are fried. This is not a place where people are going whole wheat, organic, or anything else like that!

Hermana Davis