Day 53

On Thursday, I decided that it would be fun to bake Scotcheroo bars. The grocery store didn’t have Rice Krispies, corn syrup, or butterscotch chips, so I decided that it probably wouldn’t work well. I decided chocolate chip cookies might be easier, but I found out that brown sugar doesn’t exist here. So we decided candy bars were our best option and left the store. When I noticed all the bananas in the fridge yesterday, I decided that banana bread would be a great treat. My host mom really likes to bake and so I thought that it would be a great way to show interest in what she likes to do. I got a few ingredients from the missionaries that live here in Leon and borrowed a measuring cup and spoon. My host mom borrowed a bread pan from a friend, and I caught on that she was pretty proud to tell them that she was learning how to bake American food. The banana bread (cake) turned out so well! The house smelled so good, and I can’t count the number of times that they told me how much they liked it. I’m pretty sure that we will be making it again! They really want to learn how to make pizza, so I’m working on getting the ingredients for that.

Yesterday I spent a lot of the day catching up on work and starting homework. In the evening we went to a Catholic Mass in the Cathedral. The cathedral was beautiful, and it was relaxing to sit and listen although it was really hard to understand because it was hard to hear. It was a beautiful night, and was so calm and beautiful in the central park. For the most part, each week that I have been here, I am beginning to like it more and more. Today, I’m finishing up homework and then going with my host mom for a manicure in the afternoon.

On Clothes: My host mom is a gifty, and decided to buy me a tank top since I wear them almost every day. It was wide and really short. I really wasn’t too excited to wear it, but decided that I should wear it at least once. It must have looked really bad, because the next day she bought me a different one, and held it up, and said that she thought this one would be long enough. I put it on, and it was worse than the first one! It missed my shorts by about 3 inches, and she laughed and told me that I should just wear it around the house. It was really thoughtful, but I think that shirt is going to stay in the closet…

I have a few letters that I have been meaning to mail, but I really don’t think that the people I’ve interacted with ever send letters. I’ve been told about four different words for stamp, and none of the five people I asked knew where the post office is, which I thought was interesting and none of the houses have mailboxes. We found the post office this morning, and the woman handed me a giant bottle of glue, huge pieces of paper and stamps. It took my host brother and me almost ten minutes to glue all of the cards and stamps on the envelopes, and I’m not even sure the stamps were going to stay on the envelope!

Thought for the week from a friend: “we get too comfortable with what we declare to be "ours" but none of it is ours, its Gods… the moment you decide to let go of the thought of being "comfortable" then maybe God can use you to discover more things not only about yourself but about the people all around you.”