Delayed

So I have just spent this week in Tucson, away from my family. I have been so excited to get home and see them and get settled in the new house. I'm still excited to see them. Good news is that, due to high winds in Dallas, flights are getting cancelled. So I get to enjoy my excitement for another whole day as I sit in the airport waiting for news. If all goes well from this point on, I just might make it home in time to shower before church on Sunday.

Blogophobia!

Okay, so a one month haiatus may not be the best thing when entering the blogging world. I just flew to Dallas and am sitting in the airport waiting for a connecting flight to Tucson. I'll be here for meetings for a few days. Lucky Tiffany didn't get to move into our house last week as planned, so she gets to pack up and move out of the hotel tomorrow. Weird that she wasn't absolutely excited about that prospect. :-)
The kids are enjoying school. Gotta go . . . more later, like less than a month.

"Foreign" Things

No paper products - unless you're having a party..... in which case they come in colored packs of six and are pricey.....you won't find a single paper plate, utensil, or cup on the napkin/paper towel isle......they just don't sell them! My horrible paper habit of 10 years has come to an abrupt halt and my dishwashing skills have instantaneously improved! :-)

No Cheddar Cheese - instead there is white cheese broken down into weird circular or worm-like shapes.....tastes like goat cheese or something you'd find on an exotic salad at a restaurant

Bland Food - Chilean cuisine is bland - no spice whatsoever - a friend of mine said......."Have you ever seen a Chilean restaurant in the States? I answered....."No". She then said....."There's a reason for that". You'd think this would help me trim down a bit - so far.....NOT A CHANCE! :/

Loaded Vehicle = air conditioning and front air bags if you're lucky...

MLS - What's that?.......instead we have 5 realtors working for us

Strays Everwhere - stray dogs......even stray HORSES! How bizarre is that? Have you ever read Dr. Seuss' Go Dogs, Go!? They are everywhere. Huge ones, small ones, cute ones, ugly ones,....dogs, dogs, dogs. Haven't seen any with hats though (Dr. Seuss humor). I used to be afraid of dogs......not so much anymore. These dogs are, for the most part, so docile. Very Foreign! The horses that we keep seeing (2 in particular) roam the streets and hillside near the kids' school, NIDO de Aguilas. They're gorgeous!

Jugglers/Cheerleaders - It's not uncommon to pull up to a stoplight to see a 6 yr. old child in front of the cars juggling tennis balls or whatever they can get their hands on. When the light is about to change, the juggler walks through the cars hoping for a few pesos before heading to the other side of cars who have a red light. Groups of cheerleaders being tossed in the air are often seen as well.

Street Grocers - Who needs a grocery store? You can pick up breads, crackers, fresh fruit, water bottles, ice cream, flowers, etc. - all while waiting for a stoplight to turn green. It's the BEST!

Car Watchers - It's common to see a gentleman standing in a parking lot pointing to where you should park and supposedly "watching" your car while you are away from it. When you return, he's still there and will help you back out (even if there's not a thing behind you). All for a few pesos.

Gas Station Etiquette 101 - This is a course I'm still learning.....I haven't figured this all out just yet, but who would ever choose "Self Serve"? Gas attendants pump your gas, wash your windows, check/change your oil if you choose, put air in your tires, etc. Again.....all for a few extra pesos. The dollar may not always be strong here.....but your pesos go a long way!

School

Well, my first week of the school was better than i thought it would be :) The weirdest thing is that there are so many different nationalities ! You can so many different languages in the hallway. Like, turkish, hebrew, german, italian, hindi, chinese, japenese, korean, portugese, spanish. Well, most people speak at least english and spanish! My spanish class is so hard though. ! First, there are on unit 5 and i am still on unit one and my teacher just expects me to know everyhting and second, spanish 3 in the united states is compared to spanish 1 here. it is so hard. Ihave surpassed all of my friends in texas ! We only have 4 classes a day and they are each a hour and a half! That was a hard adjustment. But, the great thing is that the passing periods are each 20 minutes. it's so nice ! One of the bad things is that most of the curriculum that i am learning in some of my classes i have already learned! Like in english, i have already read the book that we are studying, and in science i have done the labs they are doing. :/ oh well. Seminary starts tomorrow :/ yikes! at least it is in english. They have a seminary class for all of the gringos in my ward haha. I started basketball also ! I made varsity! actually you don't have to try out you are already on the team but still. We had to run the mile yesterday in under 7 minutes and 45 seconds. Only 4 people made it. Two seniors and two freshman. The one thing you do have to try out for is the sac tournament. It is a tounament where you go to a different country in south america. This year basketball is going to Uruguay. I want to go so bad. I can't wait for it. Well, i will post another time !

Lindsay

Correct Words

Luke, getting ready for church: Oops. I tooted . . . it's good I didn't say the F-word.

I must agree. F-words are F-requently F-rowned upon in our F-amily.

Languages

Conversation during dinner in the hotel, after the second day of school. . .

The kids were talking about how many different cultures are represented at their new school. Carley had complained yesterday that she's the only one at her small-group table in Spanish class that isn't Korean or Chinese, so not only does she not understand the teacher, who refuses to speak any English, but she doesn't understand the small-group chatter in Chinese. Lindsay and Peter mentioned the many polyglot students with whom they have classes. Carley mentioned there are a couple of girls in one of her classes that speak Hindi.

Tonight, the conversation was somewhat similar. Then this . . .

Lindsay chimed in: There's this kid in one of my classes from Turkey. He was speaking Turkish to me.

Luke: Like this, "Bock, bock bock, bock, bock bock."

I'm still looking for my Turkish dictionary for the translation. Bock, bock.

Uneventfullness

You know what? Imma just put it all on here. What's the difference? lol Here ya go.

Well.....the past few days have been rather uneventful. Sort of. Mostly just looking at more and more houses. We're narrowing it down though. I usually stay home, though. Well, if you can call this my home. The hotel, I mean. We had a school orientation on Wednesday. We played some games and got a tour around the school. I met some people in my grade. They seem pretty nice. I can't wait to start school. This morning, I had another orientation for school, but today it was outside. We played some field games in six different groups, then we joined all together and played capture the flag. I made the winning (and only) point. lol It was a lot of fun. I got invited to go a couple of places, but I just didn't feel like it. Idk. I'm really tired. I came home and fell asleep. Another day, though, I'll have to take up one of those offers.
One of my favorite things here is the yogurt. It's SO good! Here's a list of stuff I miss:
Milk that tastes like, well, milk! lol Having people close to hang out with. School. Being situated in a house. Having a stable, organized life. Not having to worry about going out because someone might try to talk to you in a language you don't know. Not being stared at. Not having friends that are there to help me out. And Milky Ways. haha