10 Day Till Christmas, by Jodi
Well, last week was my official low point so far. I was in a funk all week and poor Kevin took the brunt of it. At one point he had about all he could take and finally gave it back to me a bit. After I had a little time to absorb it, I told him I'd had it coming and I was sorry.
But, this week has been much, much better. We got on a better schedule with school. Instead of just giving the kids the daily schedule and nagging them about what they've gotten done, we start all together at the same time. Then we go through the schedule together so everyone's on the same page and some of the subjects they're able to do all together. It went a lot more smoothly. They took Thursday and Friday off, though, because Ash and Tegan were staying with us while their parents went to girl's camp. Cute baby Crosby got to come over a few times too, which is super fun for all the kids and they all fight over him.
Friday night and Saturday, I got to spend a bunch of time with the Primary President, Magaly, because she was helping tend the Johnson's kids while Staci was at girl's camp. The kids wanted to get together to play, so she and I hung out while they were all together. She doesn't speak a ton of English, so it forced me to really practice my spanish. We probably talked for a few hours in total over the weekend, almost all in Spanish. At the end, I realized that I'd conversed about more than just superficial things and I'd understood almost all of it. I had to ask a lot of questions to understand everything, but when I was recounting our conversations with Kevin, I realized just how much I'd understood, all in Spanish.
Kevin has told me ever since we got here that I'd hit a point where the language would just click. Of course, as much as I've struggled with it up to this point, I thought for sure he was full of crap. But today at church, I honestly understood about half of what they were saying in Sacrament Meeting. It was absolutely amazing. And, I taught the lesson in sharing time..in Spanish! I was super proud of myself and I even understood some of what the kids said...which is by far the hardest, because they talk so stinking fast. The Tico girls in primary are so incredibly sweet and they just want to come and hug me and talk to me and a few of them were asking when they could come over to our house. One of them really wants me to teach her how to play the piano.
I am fully back on board with being completely in love with this place. As we were speeding to church because Presidente called and told us he was holding Sacrament Meeting until we got there because they didn't have a pianist, I realized how much I've changed. Normally I would be in a full panic, completely stressed out at the idea of one person waiting on me, let alone the entire branch. But, now, it was just completely comical, cruising at a whopping 60 kph down this teeny Tico two lane road, trying to make it to the "big city" of Santa Cruz (which is about the equivalent size of Spanish Fork) to play the piano for Sacrament Meeting in a room that's about the size of our family room and kitchen in our old house in North Salt Lake. I walk in and everyone is just talking and enjoying each other. Nobody is stressed out or frustrated that things are running behind. Pres and Troy are probably the only one's that noticed. I sat down at the keyboard, played a prelude hymn while Pres wrapped some contraption consisting of a paper towel and tape around the microphone to try and fix it because it keeps shorting out. Sisters and kids in the branch kept coming over and giving me hugs while I was playing and our kids found seats throughout the room by friends and then Sacrament Meeting began. It was such a comfortable and inviting environment and I'm so excited for our kids to get to experience this incredible place and culture!
But, this week has been much, much better. We got on a better schedule with school. Instead of just giving the kids the daily schedule and nagging them about what they've gotten done, we start all together at the same time. Then we go through the schedule together so everyone's on the same page and some of the subjects they're able to do all together. It went a lot more smoothly. They took Thursday and Friday off, though, because Ash and Tegan were staying with us while their parents went to girl's camp. Cute baby Crosby got to come over a few times too, which is super fun for all the kids and they all fight over him.
Friday night and Saturday, I got to spend a bunch of time with the Primary President, Magaly, because she was helping tend the Johnson's kids while Staci was at girl's camp. The kids wanted to get together to play, so she and I hung out while they were all together. She doesn't speak a ton of English, so it forced me to really practice my spanish. We probably talked for a few hours in total over the weekend, almost all in Spanish. At the end, I realized that I'd conversed about more than just superficial things and I'd understood almost all of it. I had to ask a lot of questions to understand everything, but when I was recounting our conversations with Kevin, I realized just how much I'd understood, all in Spanish.
Kevin has told me ever since we got here that I'd hit a point where the language would just click. Of course, as much as I've struggled with it up to this point, I thought for sure he was full of crap. But today at church, I honestly understood about half of what they were saying in Sacrament Meeting. It was absolutely amazing. And, I taught the lesson in sharing time..in Spanish! I was super proud of myself and I even understood some of what the kids said...which is by far the hardest, because they talk so stinking fast. The Tico girls in primary are so incredibly sweet and they just want to come and hug me and talk to me and a few of them were asking when they could come over to our house. One of them really wants me to teach her how to play the piano.
I am fully back on board with being completely in love with this place. As we were speeding to church because Presidente called and told us he was holding Sacrament Meeting until we got there because they didn't have a pianist, I realized how much I've changed. Normally I would be in a full panic, completely stressed out at the idea of one person waiting on me, let alone the entire branch. But, now, it was just completely comical, cruising at a whopping 60 kph down this teeny Tico two lane road, trying to make it to the "big city" of Santa Cruz (which is about the equivalent size of Spanish Fork) to play the piano for Sacrament Meeting in a room that's about the size of our family room and kitchen in our old house in North Salt Lake. I walk in and everyone is just talking and enjoying each other. Nobody is stressed out or frustrated that things are running behind. Pres and Troy are probably the only one's that noticed. I sat down at the keyboard, played a prelude hymn while Pres wrapped some contraption consisting of a paper towel and tape around the microphone to try and fix it because it keeps shorting out. Sisters and kids in the branch kept coming over and giving me hugs while I was playing and our kids found seats throughout the room by friends and then Sacrament Meeting began. It was such a comfortable and inviting environment and I'm so excited for our kids to get to experience this incredible place and culture!
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