People are up early today. The retreat center down the road had people playing fútbol until midnight and now someone has been playing electric guitar since 5:30 a.m. I feel bad for all of the people who have to (try) to sleep there. It's hard enough from here and I am pretty far away.
A fire started down the road in the other direction 2 nights ago. My neighbor told me about it. We passed it yesterday morning. She said the firemen were there all night. They had left but it was still burning in places. She said it was huge and crazy to watch at night from her house. Last night as we drove home it was still burning. Today I hear people shoveling. I wonder if they are shoveling a sand barrier for the fire. I can smell the smoke inside my house now.
We went to the church at 10 a.m. yesterday and left at 10 p.m. Just as we gathered for the breakfast program Jairo's friend came to let me drive his son's car. His son is out of work and needs to sell the car so it was a really good price. I really like it and told him I wanted to buy it. It seemed like the perfect car for me. He said he would talk to his son and call me in the afternoon but I never heard from him.
Lourdes and I were brainstorming about ways I could pay for the car with the least amount of interest. I was thinking of asking a friend in the US to either co-sign on a loan for me or loan me the money at a reasonable (for both of us) interest rate. I was excited about the car and wanted to call my friend, but his phone number was not in my phone and the power went off at the church so I didn't have internet. I told Lourdes - this is strange. There is no power. I have no way to reach my friend right now. Must be I am not supposed to call him. She said, "The power here goes out all of the time." But I disagreed. At home it goes out frequently. In the past year it has only gone out once that I can remember while we were in the church. She agreed it was strange timing for the power to go off.
Then last night at the conference I talked with a member of the church. He told me that he will take me car shopping next week. He said he will also sign for a loan for me! He said I should only put down part of the money I have set aside for a car and save the rest in a special account for emergencies. I was so surprised that someone I barely know would offer to sign a loan for me! What a huge blessing.
Jairo wasn't surprised. He said I should call his friend and tell him that I got a better offer from a member of the church. So this morning, at an hour when normal people are awake, I will call him, thank him for his time, and tell him that I am going to look at other cars this week. I don't think the son really wants to sell the car anyway.
Another cool thing happened yesterday. We have prepared for several conferences and special meals over the past year. Yesterday Jairo and I went shopping. Then we came back and got down to business cooking. I kept thinking about Thanksgiving when we cooked a similar meal. I told Lourdes how different it felt to be in the kitchen yesterday compared to Thanksgiving. On Thanksgiving I felt so out of place. I didn't cut the cucumber the way they wanted it. I put the tomato on the salad the wrong way. I felt like everything I did was wrong. It was a horrible feeling. Finally they assigned me to taking pictures. I felt like that was the only thing I was capable of doing. I felt like an outsider who was never going to fit in.
Yesterday was the opposite. I had to ask a few questions, but I was as productive in the kitchen as any other person there. The only thing I couldn't do was peel the potaste. But everyone had a hard time with that, so I wasn't alone. I helped Lourdes set up and decorate the upstairs for 60 people. We received many compliments about how nice it looked and how great the food was. Afterward the men cleaned up the chairs and tables. I cleaned up all of the food. But I didn't feel angry or frustrated about doing it alone like I might have last Thanksgiving. I felt like part of the team who worked on the conference and I wanted to finish the job. It is nice to really feel like a part of things.
We planned to go to the pool today, but Jairo has to go into the city really early before the pool is open, so I think we don't have a way to get there. Disappointing but I am hoping we will come up with a Plan B. Someday I will have a car.
