Dear Family,
How are all of you? is it getting warmer by the day over
there in North America? Because it sure is getting colder by the day over here
in South America.
Sadly, because of such cold weather and the nationality of
my companion, Central American, someone got sick this week, and that same
someone got another someone sick... But luckily the other someone didn´t
get as sick. Haha, yeah so my companion got sick this week and it sucked
because we were inside all day. You´d think that we could´ve gotten some stuff
done, but it was a lot of sitting and thinking because it was never announced
that him or me that we were going to stay inside, more like silently
understood, but anyways we just stayed inside and coughed for a while. But it
was good to get a little rest, and to appreciate being healthy most of the
time.
Okay so one thing that happened this week, even though we
were sick, was go to a conference with the President. We got on a big
collectivo bus, and off we went to Neuquen. This conference was more special
because it was a multi zone conference. It was really good to see some amigos
that I hadnt seen in a while and realize that we´re all getting way too old way
too fast. But anyways since we´re not super close to Neuquen we had to take two
days, almost to travel. We left Wednesday in the night and got to a city called
cinco saltos, where our zone leaders live and there we slept for the night,
well some slept... There wasn´t very many mattresses, and so 3 of us had
to sleep on the floor. But I slept almost the whole night, despite the hardness
of the floor and boniness of my... everything. We got up early in the morning
a, got ready and went out to catch the inter city bus 30 minutes to Neuquen.
There was only two problems with all of this. One it was raining, and two it
was freakin´cold. Haha, yeah it was pretty miserable for a little while,
but I did utilize like I never before thought I would have my waterproof shoes.
I thought I would never ever use them, but they actually came in handy. So we
finally caught the bus that thought might never come. It was raining inside the
colectivo as well.... We got to Neuquen, got off the colectivo and started to
walk towards the capilla, and it was still raining and freakin´cold. We finally
got the capilla, and I thought we were home free, but the people with the
keys hadn't shown up, and so we waited. Then the president got there with his
wife and they waited too, and then the president dropped cane on the zone
leaders who had the keys, came latte, and had their Take note: don´t be
late or have your phone off.
Okay so we had the conference and everything went very well,
I learned some things got to see some good friends,had a got lunch, and
then finally, the best of all, got a DVD player for our apartment! Ever since
I´ve been here in 25 de Mayo, we have been without DVD player. It has been a
long famine, but it is finally over. Haha, they actually ran out of DVD players
for a long time and had already botten all of the DVD players that existed in
Neuquén, but hey now we have one and all is well. It even has a USB port, so we
can use it with video files, too. That whole direct usb compatibility is much more
common here in Argentina. You just plug your usb stick in and it fins what is
music or video and it plays them in order. IT makes it hard when you don't know
where your music is, because you have to navigate blindly, but it can make
things more easy as well.
So now we have a DVD player, and we´re both happy about it.
Mom, thanks for the Lasagna recipe, they look awesome and
we´re excited to try them out
Okay now thee best part of the news this week. The activity
of 25 de Mayo (the day) in 25 de Mayo (the city). Turns out that 25 de Mayo is
Patriot's day or independence day in all of Argentina. (I had been wondering
why they named a city after the random date of 25 de mayo;now I know) The
branch planned a big activity 25 de Mayo after some random date; now I know.)
The branch planned a big activity and asked us to put on a skit. The activity
was great. They had torta frita (basically scones, but not as sweet) and locro
(really good bean, corn, sausage stew) a. Okay so the skit. Luckily, because we
were sick this week we had plenty of time to plan out the skits . I never
thought I would use all of those summers at scout camp, and neither did my dad,
but boy they sure did and have come in handy. I thought of the best skits I
knew. Old Blue, Crowbar from K-mat, Robin Hood and Bandanna were some of my
favorites. But now came the task of remembering all the lines and translating
them into Spanish. I was sitting my chair a thinin´when all of a sudden it came
to me and I laughed out loud, it was too good. We decided on the Bandanna skit
and Robin hood. In the Bandanna skit there is a magician who does some really
lame tricks ( my companion) and then afterwards he says he´s going to do
another trick, but this time he´s going to need a volunteer. that is where I
come in the very excited volunteer. I´m dressed in black tights ( to maintain
modesty) shorts way past my waist a a pink futbol jersey, huge glasses and a
funny look on my face. I insist that he pick me,making a large commotion and
after begging and pleading an he finally picks me and I take my place at his
side as ´´his assistant´´. Ever proudly and lispfully, I introduce myself as
Venancio,, adjusting my shorts to the ready near-chest-level position. The
trick continues as he gives me a bandanna (called a pañuelo in Spanish) and I
have a good time with it. He turns his back to me and says they he´s going
to make it appear in his pocket, which of course makes venancio squirm with
excitement. Readying himself for the trick, venancio extends the bandanna (pañuelo)
out in front, when suddenly he has to sneeze and sneezes into the bandanna.
This sneeze made him remember how hungry he was and that he had half of a
pomelo in his pocket, so he stashes the bandanna and takes out the pomelo
to try and get in a quick snack. Suddenly the voice of the Magician Re Misterio
is heard, assistant are you ready? Do you have the pañuelo. Surprised,
the assistant says How did you know that I had a pomeuelo?? ! He really is
magic. Okay the trick must go on, and so venancio is directed to extend the
pañuelo (misunderstood as his pomelo) out in front of him and... fold it in
half. Stunned by this order venancio asks why he needs to fold his beloved
pomeulo, but receiving a stern look and command from Re misterio he mournfully
folds his pomelo and juices fly everywhere. Whining, he reports that the
pomeulo has been folded and so the magician gives the next order. Okay now you
need to take the pañuelo and fold it again in half. The magician with his back
still turned doesn´t understand why its so hard for his assistant to follow his
orders but the assistant is devastated when he finds that another fold is
required of his poor pañuelo., but willingly complies whining about the amount
of juice extruded from his poor fruit. Now the magician just wants to get the
trick over with and directs venancio to put the pañuelo in his pocket. His
pocket? His mother made him that pocket, but again he complies and puts the
soggy fruit in his pocket. Now he calls on the crowd to help him with the magic
words Abra cadabra pata de cabra (abra cadabra foot of a goat) , they practice
once with him, and then he says that him and his assistant venancio are
going to pat their pockets 3 times in unsion and then say the magic words with
the crowd. The first pat, the second, and finally the thrid and the magic
words... ABRA CADABRA PATA DE CABRA...
The magician now goes to his pocket expecting to find
the pañuelo (bandanna) neatly folded and transported, but instead finds the
soggy mess of a pomelo from the pocket of Venancio and he gets mad and chases
venancio off stage. The end.
Whew. I`ll have you all know that because of the
circumstances I typed all of the above on a computer who`s monitor only turns
on for 1 second at a time before turning off, so basically blindly. Thank you
keyboarding classes in Jr. High.
Okay other quick story: My pants couldn`t handle the
sweet digs (a sudden squat to save the ball) I made in an un expected game of
volleyball... They exploded. That`s the back of my pants your looking at, not
the front.
Yeah... I quickly grabbed a jacket, put it around my
exploded back side and hurried inside. I just so happened to have a pair of
shorts that I would need for the skit, and so it worked out great.
Well that was the adventurous week we had...
Love,
Elder Bradley Turek
Note: The bananda skit is usually done with a ´´banana´´ and
a ´´bandanna´´ that´s why it´s funny and even funnier that it just happened to
work in spanish with Pañuelo and Pom(u)elo. Just to clear that up.
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