Friday, November 30, 2012

We Are Still Alive

 
 
It has been awhile since I checked in.  We have been extremely busy and we did have to go to Uraguay and you all know why, to get our passports stamped.  And we did.  There are many pictures of Uruguay and a lot to tell.

First of all, we stayed at the Uraguay Bethel.  It is closed and all activity is being handled by Argentina and Brazil.  It is on the same property as the Assembly Hall and a Kingdom Hall.  The brothers want to keep the Assembly Hall and the Kingdom Hall and sell the Bethel.  Usually there are about eight brothers and sisters working there but the weekend we were there it was only the Assembly Hall Overseer and his wife, Daniel and Rosorio.  What a wonderful couple.  They were both born and raised in Montevideo, the capital and have been to Brooklyn Bethel and now here.  They took great care of us although neither of them speak a word of English.  Our Spanish got a work out.  But I will start at the beginning and the pictures are all messed up on here because I am new at this.

 
We arrived in Cologna, UR and we were going to take a tour but it was pouring down rain so we decided to head to Bethel right away.  Well, we had to get tickets and run outside in a downpour and when we got in the ticketing area, there were these two couples there that looked unusually nice and they were speaking English.  I told Neil, "They're Witnesses."  But too busy to run over there as we had to get the tickets.  Well, we had a two hour wait and when we went to sit down and have some lunch, they were sitting at a table and a conversation ensued.  Guess What?  Yep, from S.C. on vacation.  You can spot JW's anywhere when they are acting like JW's.



We had a great time with them and moved on to Bethel.  We were picked up at a bus stop called Plaza Cuba.  Very exciting place and off to Bethel.  Wow, was it beautiful.  We were in there all by ourselves so we got to look at the library which was impressive and all the offices.  It was so strange to be there all by ourselves.  Daniel and Rosorio live a little jaunt across that green grass.

 
That afternoon Rosorio made lunch.  It was steak sandwiches with ham, cheese, bacon and a sunside up egg on it.  Well, I avoided the egg but the rest was wonderful.
And this was our room.  Out the window was a wonderful view,
 
They have German Police dogs that they let out at 10:00 p.m. and they wanted us inside by 10.  No problemo.  But Neil got to be friends with them, I stayed away.  Also, they have dive bomb birds that come right at you and Neil actually took a photo of one coming at me.  What a guy.
 
 
 
This is one of those photos you take of yourself.  We are on the little bridge over the water.  We took so many photos and its hard to know which ones to print.  So I will show a few of their assembly hall and then we left after two days to go back to Argentina but spent five hours in the quaint town of Cologna.  Before coming here, we had heard of Uruguay but had no idea how nice of a country it was to see.  We are so happy to have met our brothers and sisters from here.
 
 
There are the Brother and Sister.  So nice.
 
 
This is one section of where the brothers eat lunch at the conventions.  There is so much to show you but not enough time.  So we sadly said goodbye and are anxious to see them again in Paradise.
 
 
 
Entrance to the Kingdom Hall attached to the Assembly Hall.  It is only used now as auxilliary seating for assemblies.
 
 
Beautiful port city of Cologna.
 
 
This is a view from the lighthouse.  Neil wanted to make sure we got enough photos for Mom since she loves the lighthouses.  It is operational.  More steps than we counted on.   But we need the exercise.
It was a perfect day and the weather was fabulous.
 
Our home overseer Daniel and his wife Claudia were there at the port in Buenos Aires to pick us up.  Again, what a fabulous couple.  They will be the new assembly hall overseer and wife for the assembly hall we are working on in Ezeiza.  This is when we were almost back to Buenos Aires.  You can see Buenos Aires from the lighthouse but the picture wasn't too clear.  It took about one hour on the boat to get from Cologna to Buenos Aires.  It took two hours to get from Cologna to Bethel which is in a suburb of Montevideo.
 
Uruguay.  On Sunday I want to add to the blog photos of the assembly hall site.  Things are really changing quickly.  If we had not been extended, we would be coming home on Sunday.  Man does time go by fast.
 
Love to everybody.
 
Oh, and Gaston, well, I'm learning more Spanish and he's not learning more English.  He is a crackup.  His wife is lovely and tolerant.  This week was their 11th anniversary so they took a few days off.  Yesterday they gave me ice cream to take home since I was there today.  They treat me good.  I think it is because I'm old.
 

Saturday, November 10, 2012

Another Week Has Come and Gone

Every day is exciting and interesting here in Canuelas and Ezeiza Argentina.  We go to bed every night tired but saying, "How did we get here?"  Then we wake up and say, "How did we get here?"   Since we can't answer that any other way, it is only by Jehovah's spirit because we are still amazed.  Some things have changed a bit.  For a few weeks Neil has to work every Saturday because of some deadline requirements but he is okay with that.  He gets an extra day off during the week because of working Saturdays but if you know him, you know he doesn't take the days.  I keep reminding him of his age and he keeps going anyway.    The next pictures I post are not going to have any commentary because they are self-explanatory.  Except maybe the last one in Neil's group of construction photos.  They all look the same to me but Neil and those of you construction inclined will see the differences.  So I hope you enjoy them.






 
 
So there you have it.  From Neil's vantage point.  However, he did not get any photos of the progress on the school, which would have been wonderful to show you.  It is coming along really nicely and I will have some photos to show you next week.
 
This last construction photo is of one of the local brothers as he attempts to communicate with Neil.  We are doing better every day.  We think we understand a bunch of stuff and then.....we go to the meeting and only understand "por ejemplo" and "jesuchristo" and "Jehova".  That "por ejemplo" was said so much, we put it in the translator and it means, "for example". 
 
 
Oh, don't know if I mentioned it before but, on this site, there is only one person older than Neil and he is a brother around 60-ish.  The next oldest is Neil and then me!!!  I knew we were getting older but this is the only depressing thing about being here. 
 
Now we get to move onto the kitchen and dining room where I hang out all the time.  I have to say that Gaston is hysterical.  More on that later.  I am going to show you a few photos from the kitchen and dining room with commentary.
 
 
This is a sister that I work with  in the dining room two days a week but she is there three.  She is there on Friday but I am not.  She is from Germany.  Her and her husband have been in Argentina for awhile but they have also been to Paraguay.  She is fluent in German, Spanish, this other language from Paraguay that I don't even know how to pronounce the language, and now she is learning Japanese.  She speaks better English than I do.  I love being with her.  She teaches me many things about Spanish and she is very laid back.  She is very OCD about things.  Like on the table she wants everything in a straight line, i.e. napkins, condiments, tea, et cetera.  I on the other hand want all the plates, and silver lined up with the chairs perfectly.  So between us we are a mess.  Anyway, the unstraightened silverware in the background has not been finished by myself.  Sorry I don't have an "after" picture too.
 
 
Here are Gabby and Gaston.  I talk about them a lot.  I did get them to take this picture under Gabby's protest.  They are so incredibly talented in the kitchen.  Both of them.  She makes very beautiful presentations and they both make wonderful food.
Gabby is Jeff's age and Gaston is Heather's age.  He reminds me of my nephew Rich in mannerisms but his humor is totally Andrew.  I laugh all the time.  He is not improving in his English which is great.  I tell him to "hit the road" all the time because he is so hyper and always telling me what to do.  He has no idea what I'm saying and always says, "What?"  So I repeat it and he still doesn't know what I'm saying.  It's kind of like wearing dark sunglasses.  You know what I mean, Louanne?  He always says, " Cindy...blah, blah, blah."   I have no clue what  he is saying.  Even those who understand Spanish can't understand him.  Here is the funniest translation error of my time here and it is all Gaston.
 
The menu for Wednesday said we were having Ravioli.  Yumm.  Well, he didn't make ravioli.  So I said, "Hey, que paso?"  "Ravioli"?   He says, "No!"  I said, "Menu says ravioli."  He says, "Menu is bull...."  My mouth dropped open and I was speechless.  He at first just laughed.  Then he gets worried and wants to know what he said.  I couldn't even speak.  Then I put it in my translator and Gabby panics.  "No, no, no."  I just laughed but couldn't really explain much except I said, "No cristiano (made up that word) dice.  Nunca!"  Then after lunch Gabby says to me in complete Spanish, and I actually  understood it, "Did you see the movie 'How to Lose a Guy in 10 days?"  I said yes.  She says, "In the movie they play a card game and it is called, 'bull.....' and it was translated on TV into Spanish as "a lie".  So they thought bull....meant a lie.  So when I said "the menu says ...,"  Gaston thought he was saying, "A lie."  Wow!! Did I have fun with that.  The next day, everyone, and I mean everyone in the kitchen was talking about it.  I told him I was putting it in the blog and so he knows.  He's a good sport.
On Thursday we had ice cream from Bethel.  It was cafe flavor.  Not my favorite but hey it's ice cream.  Well, at the end of the day he had been saving the chocolate chip and Gabby and Gaston let me take some of that home.  Age does have a few perks.
 
Last but not least the weather.  It has been blistering hot.  Unusual for this time of year.  The humidity is crazy and we don't have A/C in our room, just a ceiling fan.  I guess we have been pampered long enough.  Anyway, yesterday, my dia libre, it poured rain and got really cold.  Sweater and everything.  Now today it is really nice out.  We needed the break from the heat.  Neil says we got the entire heat of AZ summer and now we get the entire heat of Argentina summer and we will come home just in time to experience another AZ summer.
 
Well, I hope I didn't ramble too much but I have to say we are having a wonderful experience here and appreciate the emails and skypes we get.  We miss everyone and that really helps so much for us.  So until next time.  Love from the both of us.