Church and pizza

January 17
This morning was a bit rough but only in an exhausted way. What’s so funny is that we don’t wake up hung-over at all. We talked about this a lot and think it’s because we’re walking, dancing and being too concerned with enjoying ourselves than really drinking. Whatever it is, we like it!
Literally from the balcony off of our room we counted 15 churches. We hear the bells ringing on the hour, and even more than that sometimes, all the time. So, needless to say we had quite the decision to make this morning! Our senora pointed to a church out the balcony that had a service at one. So, we pulled ourselves together and headed out in the direction she pointed. There were two little old ladies dressed up in front of us so we decided to just follow them figuring they were going to church as well. They did lead us straight to a church but when we walked in everyone was leaving. There was no mass at one. So we asked a woman and she lead us straight to another church right down the street.

Looking out of our balcony during the day (can you count the steeples?)

View from our balcony at night. That glowing building is a church. It's one of my favorite views and I love coming straight home, night or day, and going out to look at the city

Mass was an experience. It went by so fast and was over in a half hour! There wasn’t any music which was a huge disappointment and certainly sped everything up but I also think it is the speed at which they talk. They speak so fast! As many times as I have been to church I still found myself getting lost in what was going on. Of course I knew the overall routine but I was trying so hard to catch a hint of a word I knew that I was just so confused! The best part had to be communion. There was no procession up. It was like father said “Hey I’ve got some snacks up here if anyone wants them.” And people sitting in the pews were like, “Eh yeah I’m hungry” or they waited for someone to get back and ask them how it was and then got up. So confusing but funny at the same time. I think we’re going to try to find another church with music for next week.
After church we decided on a nice American lunch, Domino’s pizza! It’s more like a restaurant here so we ate there. It didn’t taste the same (and not just the “new sauce” they’ve apparently been advertising.. hah) but it was still good! We tried to order salads with the pizza but the guy helping us, Jesus, brought out plastic containers of like potato salad type things one of tuna and one with shrimp maybe? Either way, we passed!
We lingered at Domino’s for quite awhile but came home and our senora, Vicki, brought a cookbook back to our rooms and asked us what we liked. We talked to her for a long time. She is so nice and told us she wanted to make “sweet treats” tonight. We all agreed this was a good idea! She always says how glad she is to have us and how content she is knowing that we’re here with her. We got so lucky!
I had a date with my family at 5 my time, 10am for them! We decided to try out a different interent café that some girls in our program recommended. It was a lot nicer than the other one we had gone to and I got to talk to everyone! I got to see Paige, which I was so excited about! She was getting ready to head back to Columbia. I can’t believe I’m not heading back with her! I’m sure you will have an awesome semester though Paigey! Be good in the annex and enjoy some more freedom!! I look forward to continuing our technological relationship ☺ haha I miss you so much! I also got to wake Blake up. Paige carried her laptop into his room and I said “Brother!!” and started talking to him haha He was so confused and not necessarily pleased to see me at first! Sorry Blake, and thanks for being a good sport!
I got to take a warm shower for the first time in what seemed like forever tonight, really just a few days.. hah but it was great! We got back around 7 from the internet café and it felt like dinnertime but dinner isn’t until about 9 or 10 so we chatted and Vicki brought us back the “sweet treats” she made. I’m not sure what they were called but they were kind of like little donuts and they were good! She explained that she wanted us to help her so we could see how they were made but we took too long at the café. Wah wahh..
Then we had dinner of pasta with a bit of tomato sauce and cheese! Laura could not have been happier! She also bought some mild cheese for our crackers and we were all very happy girls. It was so nice and thoughtful of her to take everything into consideration that she did.
We helped to clean up and then went back to our side of the apartment. She lives on the other side with her son (he’s 17 and so funny) who is not allowed in our side. Laura showered (we’ve learned to space our showers out and not go one after the other) and we all sat in their room chatting. Vicki wanted our class schedules so Tricia was working hard on a master copy to hang on the fridge. It looked great Trish!! Haha
We decided to watch “Dirty Dancing Havana Nights” so Tricia is sitting up on my bed with me and I’m typing away! This movie is hilarious I love Patrick Swayze’s cameos! I’m trying to not let my nerves get the best of me for tomorrow. I’m definitely feeling that “first day of classes jitters.” Cross your fingers for me!