Questions asked and/or answered this week:
Is mariachi attire the new vogue for LDS high councilmen?
Has Brandon been bitten by a lethal spider?
What does esquincle (spelling uncertain) mean?
Does Angela wear diapers?
Who gave the four-year-old the knife?
Answers to the above questions:
Is Mariachi attire the new vogue for LDS high councilmen?
Perhaps. More likely, the high councilman that visited our ward last week also happens to be a mariachi musician (which would explain why he was carrying a violin with him). I halfway expected the fluffy white bow at his collar, short coat, and gold lacing up the sides up his pants to be an object lesson, but I guess it’s probably just his work attire, and he had a performance after the meeting block.
Has Brandon been bitten by a lethal spider?
No. Matt and I met Brandon and Angela in la Estancia on Wednesday with the intention of playing basketball and frisbee. However, upon arriving we discovered that Brandon had been bitten by some unidentified bug on his arm. He said it didn’t hurt, but the area of the bite had increased to an inch or two in diameter, and there was a reddish line running from the bite up his arm. Angela thought that lines heading for the heart from a poisonous bite might be a bad sign, so we went back to Santa Rosa to ask Martina (who is some sort of medical authority who villagers come to for medical advice and treatment). She, and the rest of the family, immediately said it was just a wasp sting, and wasn’t dangerous. The spider option would have been more exciting, but I guess it’s just as well…
What does esquincle mean?
It means kid, or maybe child. I heard Maira, my student Ramona’s daughter, use it while we were teaching Ramona on Thursday. Her newborn was inside, and she said she was going to go check on the esquincla. I understood by the context that she was talking about her baby, but the word was definitely new. I’m planning on popularizing it when I get back to the U.S. You can all feel very cutting edge with the new slang when it catches fire and goes into common use.
Does Angela wear diapers?
No. And yes, this question was actually asked, but not by me. Angela went into the city on Thursday with her host mom, Audelia. Audelia likes to take advantage of the toilets when she goes into the city, so she uses them everywhere she goes. Having just done so at a relative’s house, she suggested Angela should do the same. Despite the fact that Angela didn’t particularly need the bathroom, Audelia kept after it. Nearby, Audelia’s mother assured Angela that the bathroom was clean. When she still declined to use it, the relative asked if she was wearing a diaper, staring pointedly in the direction of the theoretical diaper. Why that would be a more logical explanation than Angela’s simply not needing to use the bathroom, we may never know.
Who gave the four-year-old the knife?
Her mother. On Friday, Matt and I went to Comederito to celebrate Audelia’s daughter Andrea’s birthday. To address the question first, a relative (el padrino del pastel, or the godfather of the cake) had brought a fairly sizeable cake. Andrea blew out her four candles and took the traditional first bite (at which point the custom is to shove the birthday girl/boy’s face in the cake, but we skipped that step due to her age). The next thing I knew, she had been handed the knife (which was large) and was standing over the cake preparing to divvy it up. Apparently it’s also traditional for the birthday-ee to cut his or her own cake. Andrea made a few scratches at the frosting, and then Audelia took back over (thank goodness). There was also a piñata as part of the festivities. At some points, I thought bodily harm to some guest was imminent as the stick-wielding child lost all sense of where the piñata was and started swinging willy-nilly at the onlookers.
Is mariachi attire the new vogue for LDS high councilmen?
Has Brandon been bitten by a lethal spider?
What does esquincle (spelling uncertain) mean?
Does Angela wear diapers?
Who gave the four-year-old the knife?
Answers to the above questions:
Is Mariachi attire the new vogue for LDS high councilmen?
Perhaps. More likely, the high councilman that visited our ward last week also happens to be a mariachi musician (which would explain why he was carrying a violin with him). I halfway expected the fluffy white bow at his collar, short coat, and gold lacing up the sides up his pants to be an object lesson, but I guess it’s probably just his work attire, and he had a performance after the meeting block.
Has Brandon been bitten by a lethal spider?
No. Matt and I met Brandon and Angela in la Estancia on Wednesday with the intention of playing basketball and frisbee. However, upon arriving we discovered that Brandon had been bitten by some unidentified bug on his arm. He said it didn’t hurt, but the area of the bite had increased to an inch or two in diameter, and there was a reddish line running from the bite up his arm. Angela thought that lines heading for the heart from a poisonous bite might be a bad sign, so we went back to Santa Rosa to ask Martina (who is some sort of medical authority who villagers come to for medical advice and treatment). She, and the rest of the family, immediately said it was just a wasp sting, and wasn’t dangerous. The spider option would have been more exciting, but I guess it’s just as well…
What does esquincle mean?
It means kid, or maybe child. I heard Maira, my student Ramona’s daughter, use it while we were teaching Ramona on Thursday. Her newborn was inside, and she said she was going to go check on the esquincla. I understood by the context that she was talking about her baby, but the word was definitely new. I’m planning on popularizing it when I get back to the U.S. You can all feel very cutting edge with the new slang when it catches fire and goes into common use.
Does Angela wear diapers?
No. And yes, this question was actually asked, but not by me. Angela went into the city on Thursday with her host mom, Audelia. Audelia likes to take advantage of the toilets when she goes into the city, so she uses them everywhere she goes. Having just done so at a relative’s house, she suggested Angela should do the same. Despite the fact that Angela didn’t particularly need the bathroom, Audelia kept after it. Nearby, Audelia’s mother assured Angela that the bathroom was clean. When she still declined to use it, the relative asked if she was wearing a diaper, staring pointedly in the direction of the theoretical diaper. Why that would be a more logical explanation than Angela’s simply not needing to use the bathroom, we may never know.
Who gave the four-year-old the knife?
Her mother. On Friday, Matt and I went to Comederito to celebrate Audelia’s daughter Andrea’s birthday. To address the question first, a relative (el padrino del pastel, or the godfather of the cake) had brought a fairly sizeable cake. Andrea blew out her four candles and took the traditional first bite (at which point the custom is to shove the birthday girl/boy’s face in the cake, but we skipped that step due to her age). The next thing I knew, she had been handed the knife (which was large) and was standing over the cake preparing to divvy it up. Apparently it’s also traditional for the birthday-ee to cut his or her own cake. Andrea made a few scratches at the frosting, and then Audelia took back over (thank goodness). There was also a piñata as part of the festivities. At some points, I thought bodily harm to some guest was imminent as the stick-wielding child lost all sense of where the piñata was and started swinging willy-nilly at the onlookers.
Piglets born the night before...the two on the left are apart because they´re the smallest and the others would crush them (so said the piglets´owner).
See that huge bale of hay? That´s a donkey. Carrying the bale of hay.
This is Matt making his super-awesome map of Santa Rosa. And my knee in the corner.
Painting the flowers.
Our second masterpiece.
4 comments:
Nice touch for you and the owner (?) of your latest home-adornment enterprise to wear bright pink for the painting and post-painting photos. Is that why we didn't get to see Matt at this house? (no pink outfit)
Emily, you are a real hoot! I laughed out loud at your commercial on Matt's blog. Thank you for keeping us informed each week. --matt's sister
Emily my dear! I would like you to come and paint my house, your skills are beyond comparison! I miss you and can't wait for you to come back!
Emily, Angela's mom here. just a thanks for being such a great friend to her and helping her get through this extraordinary experience. You are a gifted writer... I have loved reading of your adventures. I hope someday to meet! Have a wonderful final week...
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