That subject line is my new favorite Spanish word to say. If my Spanish has not failed me, I believe it means "Developing."
Not so much is new after that crazy first week, so maybe we should just jump into some amusing stories? We were joking that our days are mostly the same and the only thing that is different is our conversations, and those are mostly the same because we know so little Spanish. Anyway, onward with some stories:
So the other day they talked to us (among other things) about page 33 of the handbook, which basically says "No Flirting," so now anytime someone in our district even says anything to an Hermana we tease them relentlessly (not in a mean way, we just all think it's funny and enjoy a good jest). So the other day Elder Redford (tall roommate with glasses) was standing in the lunch line and his comp Elder Ireland (the British one) had gone to grab a drink of water nearby and Elder Redford was just talking to some Sisters about where they were from and going. Part of the rule is that if your companion isn't part of the conversation with the opposite gender, it is probably a bad idea. So Elder Ireland comes back and says "Hey! I wasn't part of the conversation!" and then other guys in our district were joking about page 33. But the funny part of the story is that when Elder Redford was explaining the story to us later that night in our apartment, he said how the Sisters were right there during the anti-flirting campaign, so he was "Muy embarasado." If you don't understand, ask a Spanish speaker. We were dying of laughter. He thought it was hilarious as well once I said what it meant. We always laugh at ourselves really easily and love nothing more than a good joke because we mess up sort of frequently.
Another similar story happened to Elder Garvin, a fellow Salutatorian. Some hermanas happened to sit by his comp and him at dinner, and they talked for a minute. When the sisters got up to leave, Elder Garvin said "Encontado a conocerle!" which means "nice to meet you." The sisters did not speak Spanish and did not understand, so he tried again with what he thought was "mucho gusto" (also "nice to meet you") but accidentally said "me gusta." Unfortunately, the sisters understood this bit of Spanish and one of them said, "Doesn't that mean you like me?" Elder Garvin realized his mistake only too late and all his apologies and explanations fell on deaf ears as the sisters walked away. Good old Spanish.
One last story that was at least funny to me. At the end of the night the elevators for the teaching building are often packed (we're on the third floor) because everyone is going back to their rooms. We were waiting for the elevator to get from the sixth floor to us and I told Elder Gunderson, "We're getting on the elevator no matter what." The elevator door opens and there are probably twenty people on it. They immediately start pressing the door close button, but Elder Gunderson is undeterred by their shouts of "No!" and the horror in their eyes. He throws his arms in the air proclaiming "perfecto!" in a really long drawn out way. We got on the elevator. I don't know if they appreciated it, but we thought it was great. Now "perfecto" is one of the words we use all the time. Our other go-to is "Alla" (with accent over last "a," pronounced ah-yah) which means "way over there." We pretty much just point places we want to go or at objects and things. "Alla? Alla!" It's great.
Thanks by the way for the emails and mail! We pretty much live for those. Makes my day every time.
Elder Gunderson and I have been pumping iron a lot. Unfortunately, the gym doesn't have any barbells so you can't lift very heavy, but we still get some good workouts in. Lots of push-ups, jump-rope, curls, and core. We also played basketball for the first time. They were redoing the finish on it so we couldn't until now. It was super crowded. There are a couple guys here that are playing college ball. Proud to say that I held my own though and got a super solid block.
I ran into a ton of people this week, which was super fun! Chip, Adam Budge, Ryker Simmons, Zach Durbano, and Ian Swenson all got here Wednesday. Super fun to see a familiar face.
Another interesting thing is that they've been doing lots of construction taking down old buildings and putting up new ones. We'll walk to lunch and there is a nice covering over the sidewalk and then we walk out and it's gone. Crazy.
You can pay like $1.50 to have your patriarchal blessing laminated and shrunk down to fit in your scriptures or your pocket, so I did that. It's kind of fun to have it more accessible.
We like seeing all the crazy flags. There's a bunch of them.
Also, Elder Ireland always gets us going on these stories that he totally makes up. He had us convinced that he played piano for the queen and that later he went through an emo phase where he painted is fingernails black and dyed his hair. Both of these are false. Never trust an Englishman.
Maybe I will end here on a spiritual note. I thought I was good at scripture study, but we are focusing on really slowing down and taking meaning from each sentence or phrase. It makes the scriptures much more enjoyable. We have some good insights with each other going over it like that.
Also, one of our teachers, Hermano Gillman, told Elder Gunderson and I when we came into class a little early that in his two years of teaching that he has never seen anyone work as hard on memorizing Spanish as we are. That felt good. Se bautizara, anyone?
Anyway, I can't think of any other random details right now. Things are good.
Hasta luego,
Elder Harris
Also, here are some pictures. Us with Elder Cannon in the apartment, poorly lit picture of us on third floor balcony, and me with Adam Budge.
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