The First Sunday September 10, 2006

Since I still do not have an alarm I just prayed that I would wake up in time for church. I did. I awoke around 11am, and had plenty of time to get ready, since church starts at 2pm. These showers sure are small and they make shaving your legs like qualifying for an Olympic sport. I have no blow dryer or flat iron yet, so the hair just went into a ponytail. I got dressed and I was pretty much good to go. Sister Winter, the bishop’s wife, picked me up and off we went. The church is not too far, but far enough that I would not want to walk. I might be able to catch the bus, but we’ll see. The church building was structured differently then the ones back home. Here, the chapel is at one end and then just a straight corridor to the other classrooms. The chapel is small and also functions as the cultural hall. There are no pews, just chairs linked together, like the ones for relief society. There were only four of us that met in the young single adult class today, but supposedly there are about 5 more coming. Everyone is friendly and I understood most of everything said. Josh, my new friend because he has a car, and Sarah are brother and sister and are from Germany. Olaf, Felix, Lea, and Shawn are all from England and Matt is from US/ England (also my new friend because he has a car). After church everyone went to Josh and Sarah’s house for food and FHE. Dinner was interesting, with a concoction of rice and minced meat (ground beef) in curry sauce. Well, I am not dead yet, so I guess it was ok.J We also had bread and butter; and to drink, a mixture of orange and apple juice with some other type of juice…and I’m still alive! Sarah did something interesting, she got a tomato out of the fridge and started eating it like and apple. Overall dinner was good, but I really need to slow down. I was the first one finished, no surprise, and was waiting quite awhile for the others to finish their meal.

The elders came over after dinner and we had a lesson on the Plan of Salvation and they compared it to leaving home for school; it was “creative”. One of the elders was from Utah and looked like he was maybe 13 years old. After that we played some games and had “German Waffles”, these are just regular waffles, Sarah just made them from scratch. I then found out about where to get a “mobile” phone and other good shops. Josh took four of us home and Olaf only lives like a block away form me. This is great, because if Josh comes to pick up Olaf then there is no excuse not to give me a ride also. Previously we had been talking about cars and they asked me what I drove back home, I replied, “a small truck.” On the way home we got behind a “small truck” and they thought it was huge! I just laughed. Josh drives a “Ford Fiesta” I have never even seen one of these in the states, but it is smaller than a Ford Escort, and it is considered a spacious ca! Well, with five people in this car we were pretty cozy, but it was better than walking home. One funny thing is that we were all getting into the car and I got the front and the three boys were in the back, I waited on the right side of the car and could not understand why Josh, the driver, wasn’t moving? It took me about 30 seconds to realize that I was on the wrong side of the car. Hahaha J

I did not go to the social event tonight because I did not want to walk home by myself in the dark, and because I did not get home until 10pm. Tomorrow we take tours of the library, city and campus. There are two secessions, one at 12 and another at 2, so I shouldn’t miss them, again, the alarm clock thing. Also, tomorrow Nadia’s brother goes home, so it should be interesting to see how we communicate. It is still just her and me in the house so hopefully more people will show up this coming week.