Juntos

Juntos means "together" in Spanish and it is our motto for our mission. We have found assorted pieces of wire on our walks through the Fundo, just lying on the ground. We would pick up these scraps when we encountered them and eventually began searching for just the right O or S. Once we learned this word, we were on a hunt to complete it, with its initial heavy-gauge letter "J." We also have the word "love" spelled out with a perfect curly L from barbed wire, which was probably the letter that got us started on this treasure hunt. Both words are the sum of our wall decorations in our little home in Chile.

At one of our favorite family's houses, we were introduced to the word juntos as the couple described for us building their house together, with smiles of pride as they looked into each-others' eyes. It truly is a home--the words el hogar, which breathe hearth, fireside, warmth and welcome-- from the gate entrance posts that support an ancient wooden oxen yoke, to the newly enlarged kitchen with its wood-burning stove and plenty of room at the table for any and all who show up. This family and their home radiate togetherness.

I think we're getting better at this juntos thing, too. After nearly 50 years of marriage, and now being together almost constantly, I think we're getting closer to understanding it. Kahlil Gibran's words on marriage used to trouble me-- I wanted no "spaces in (our) togetherness," I wanted to "drink . . . from one cup." Now I think I understand the lines, "And stand together yet not too near together:
For the pillars of the temple stand apart,
And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow."

It means that we don't need to be embarrassed by each other's silliness, or mistakes, or foibles. "People get to be who they are." This includes those we married or gave birth to. How freeing! I'm not responsible, I'm not the judge; I get to be a spectator, giving them the space and the benefit of the doubt as I would a stranger--more even, because I know them intimately.

My leftover vegetables for breakfast (beets with salt today) and Jay's need for traditional breakfast fare can coexist happily. Jay's fluent Spanish and my teaching experience aren't competing and complement each other perfectly on this mission divinely inspired just for us. His willingness to be the driver works with my "knitting madly to keep my eyes off the road" coping strategy; and he has learned not to take it personally when I ask him (yes, scream) to slow down! We can read scriptures from both English and Spanish: the same verses at the same time, trading roles; sometimes me in Spanish, sometimes him, and get more out of it than we ever did alone.

My goal in being a principal was to learn what I needed to learn. My goal on my mission is to become what I can become. With God's help, and with Jay's--juntos--I am trying.

Al-righty then!

After trying to post many times and finally resorting to FaceBook, I'm back to see if time and being ignored has worked its magic on this blog site. If yes, I'll be back. If no, not many minutes wasted.

Well, well, well. I think this is going to work. I love Day One as a journal, not so much for a blog. I don't want my business being THAT public, and know only die-hard friends will ever check this blog.

Lots to catch up on if this were that sort of a blog, which it isn't. What it is, I'm not quite sure, but today I want to think about my progress in the Spanish language.

At times I think I'm getting better; and then someone tries to tell me something and I smile and nod (no-nos when you really have no idea) and you hear one say to the other, "She didn't understand a thing." Well, I understood THAT, thank you very much.

I am putting phrases together. Something like, "How many days ....to visit....your father....in Santiago..to finish?" Or, "At what time is the .....World.....toy....today?" Then, it's time for the Chileano to say, "I don't understand." I try again, "At what hour is the....football...." "Oh! Partido! A las quatro---at four o'clock." They say the last part in English.

Well, I am here to teach English. Should I be pleased or discouraged?

 Yep, completo-style hamburgers: a thick layer of mayonnaise, another of mashed avocado and a layer of tomatoes: Whopper Italiano. It was a mistake, can I just say? Next time I spring for American, I'm going American. Maybe next July Fourth.

The Fourth of July was spent yarn shopping with these two beautiful women: Hada and Sarah. I thought it was Ada until I saw her ID card. H is silent in Spanish. It reminds me of the British fellow in our tour group in Peru, who said his name was "Buuuh." Spelled B-e-r-t. I guess if you say your name is Buuh, your name is Buuh, and if you say your name is Ada spelled Hada, that's the way it is. Alrighty then.

Autumn Redo

How great is it to be able to "Fall Back" twice in a six month period? Yes, Daylight Savings Time ends in Chile in a couple of weeks and we get that extra hour we didn't ever lose. We enjoyed our first rain here since we arrived and look forward to more. The dusty trees were thankful and another 40,000 or so are being planted before the cold weather hits. A few types of trees are losing their leaves and autumn colors are all around. My new fireplace is an electric heater I huddle around.

I just can't quite shake the thought, though, that with winter just around the bend, I need to start getting ready for Christmas. Someone gave us fresh brevas, aka figs, which I have enjoyed with blue cheese for a number of meals, but they were starting to spoil, so we made them into fig cookies with walnuts (which they call mariposas--butterflies--here, appropriate if you consider their shape) and it's hard not to eat them all at a sitting. Fresh figs are nothing like the dried variety--they are so delicate and mild. I love both kinds, but these were a first for us despite decades of enjoying fig newtons. Figgy pudding has to be just around the corner!

We gave a presentation Wednesday on "Why Learn English?" to a group of English students at a high school in town. It was so much fun. As we researched the topic, we became more aware of just how lucky we are to have grown up with English, and how universal it really is. It's the language that technology, medicine, science, international business, the media, news, politics and so many other fields depend on. I guess we can thank the British Empire for taking the language to places as far-flung as Australia, India and Africa; but we Americans have done our part to ensure that it's the agreed-upon language when people of the world need to communicate. When we first received this call I was afraid that people would think we were pushing our language on the unwilling. That is far from the truth. People realize that knowing English opens doors that they want to enter--career, travel, advancement in almost any field.....  The students were eager to hang around and visit with us after, begging us to come again. A couple of the boys said Jay was their hero because he was a pilot--their dream. Of course pilots communicate in English, so they are especially motivated. One of the things I jokingly told them that knowing English would do for them is allow them to know what the words on their T-shirts mean. They are almost all in English.

For my birthday, Jay took me out to eat at an Argentinian restaurant. Here's a picture of the carne platter that fed us for three delicious days: beef, pork, chicken, sausage and roasted potatoes over a charcoal fire on the table. Que rico!

Some church-y mission things:

• Outfitted the young Elders (oxymoron? Oxymormon?) with reflective vests and then busted them when we came upon them not wearing them while riding their bikes on a dark, dangerous road a few days later. We feed these yay-hoos every Tuesday and want to protect them like our own sons.
• Cleaned the church for a few hours--first time it had been cleaned since we arrived, I think--on a couple of Saturdays. Discouraging.
• Provided pocket-sized hymnals to the missionaries so that investigators and new members can sing along with those who know the words or have their own hymn books. We have ordered 100 of the bigger ones for the chapel and have determined ahead of time that if they walk off, that's okay. People need to be able to sing.
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• Had several groups of our students attend church two weeks ago to a special meeting where the Mission President and his wife were featured speakers. (They looked down at the congregation and saw us and wondered how the heck they didn't know about this never-before seen senior couple. Were were really missionaries? We don't belong to the Mission, but to the Presiding Bishop's Office and Farmland Reserve. Yes, we have the name-tag and everything.) Some of these not-yet-members also watched or listened to conference. Yay! It was such a good conference and the feedback has been very positive. We were glad the chapel was relatively clean.
• Between sessions of conference, we took home-made cinnamon and orange rolls around to most of the families we visit and teach. We first were just going to take them to the ones "on base" --the farm-- but kept extending our route. I think they now have a greater understanding of why Americans tend to be fatter than Chileans ; )
• I'm teaching a couple of our students to knit--well, helping them make baby blankets. They really knew how to knit but just hadn't done it since they were 12. It is a good chance for communication in both English and Spanish. We also have a Wednesday "craft" session with wives of some of the farm supervisors. They are some of our English students, too.
  
  

Barbie Dog

Dogs everywhere!

Jay and I see this dog regularly hanging around one of the employee eating pavilions. At the same moment I was thinking that it was the very image of a fashion model, Jay said out loud, "Barbie Dog." Synchronicity.

My Suede Pear is a Quince! That is all.

Except to ask, "What is a runcible spoon with which to eat this quince?"

Food! Are we in heaven?

Ceviche and crusty bread in a seaside town. Zoom in on all the deliciousness in this yummy dish: bits of all kinds of seafood in a tangy brine.

 Yes, those are green beans, not the bell peppers that I thought I was getting from the picture on the menu: twice! Liked them both times, too.

 Fresh juice everywhere. Just imagine raspberries blended up into a liquid. That's it. And pebre (pico de gallo--rather spicy) instead of fry sauce for those papas! 

 The mother of the farm's security guard made this "pan de campo" for us. Crusty, flavorful and baked in her horno. Smear avocado on a slice of this bread with tomatoes, onions, salt and pepper for a fabulous supper.

 The day's shopping trip--to one of the produce stands that line the roads here. Strawberries, raspberries, basil, potatoes, plums, lemons, avocado and melon jelly!

Here's a woman baking empanadas in one of two adobe hornos (ovens). There's a little door near the ground where wood is placed and a fire heats the food above it. We went to a nearby town to see if we could find a huaso (cowboy) hat for our wall. We didn't find a hat, but there were many restaurants to choose from. We decided to stop at this little hole-in-the-wall place and were not disappointed. Just watching her make the empanadas and smelling the wood-fire baking the food was worth the trip there. I ordered the empanada and Jay ordered pan de choclo, a quiche-like dish with a yummy crust and a corn filling.

Now the tuna update: prickly pear fruit. They are in season now, and are juicy and fairly sweet. People buy them by the bagful. I understand they are picked in the morning when the thorny things are less thorny and then the gunny-sacks they put them in removes the small pricklies. The seeds are hard and many, but I think people just swallow them down. I've had many slices and quite like them. The sliced ones are on the plate beside a fruit called membrillo, which looks like a suede pear. The suede coating rubs off and then you can eat it like an apple. It's kind of sour and goes well with salt. It also has the texture of cellulose but with the mouth-puckering factor of alum. It must be an acquired taste. I'll keep trying as they get riper, but don't think they are going to be something I buy. We have plenTY on two trees!

"The world is so full of a number of things, I'm sure we should all be as happy as kings." Robert Louis Stevenson

My Little Redhead

Our Julianne is a big bargain shopper. Savers is her Nordstrom, and she finds some pretty good stuff, too. Once, at DownEast, she found the perfect pillowcases for her daughter's bedroom: perfect color, all cotton, very nice. The monogram didn't matter for their function, but when she got home and presented them to Claire, Claire wanted to know, "What does MLR stand for?" Just a quick as that, Julianne calmly said, "It stands for My Little Redhead." It has become a favorite nickname for this little redhead.

Well, Julianne is my little redhead, and she's likely going to lose that incomparable, gleaming, just curly enough strawberry-blonde hair to chemotherapy. She has been diagnosed with Hodgkins and we are celebrating at the prayers-answered miracle that this is. Nothing worse? Ha! We laugh at lymphoma. Seriously, the menu had nothing better and a lot worse options. 

She has tons of wonderful friends and neighbors and of course, six siblings who stand ready to help in every way they can....and have thought of things I wouldn't have already. We are so appreciative of your prayers and kindnesses and concern. Having served a mission herself, she wants us to stay here, and truly, we feel a new motivation to be the best missionaries we can be; to make this time away from our loved ones count, and to try to say thank you for the Lord's miracles--particularly this one--in our lives. 
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Here's a picture of the patient with the fabulous hair during her first chemotherapy, with Saundra, the doctor known for her glamor (and her gift of compassion) checking up on her. It's going to be a brutal six months, but this is the girl who runs marathons in downpours, jumps into a neighbors' yard with a snarling dog to get a runaway ball and prays our old van up the mountain in Colorado when nothing else would get it going. We know this territory. We can do this.