Friday, September 4, 2015

Folklorico in the Plaza

This week the school kids have been practicing their dances in the plaza of Virú. We love watching the energy they put into leaping around in rythm to the flute music. Sometimes they caw and screech like condors. They've gradually added costumes like deer skins and bird wings with face masks of deer and falcons. I could picture my grandkids jumping in and dancing right along with them. One of our neighbors has a son dancing and invited us to come along to Huamacucho this weekend to watch them perform. Tempting, but we had to decline.
Links to Linda's videos of the dance practices:
https://youtu.be/mt-ZOuMbfbo (Falcons in Virú)
https://youtu.be/XI798fL76dA (Hunters and deer in Virú)
This week I craved molasses cookies for zone meeting. After searching a few days for molasses, you figure here in the middle of all these sugar fields we could find some, we found some chancaca in the market and melted it down to perfect molasses. We also grated in fresh ginger for the spice. When we were done, all I needed was an improvised cookie tote....one water bottle personalized and voila.
The choir struggles without our old harmonica player. The men just can't sing in the same key as Elder Miller's "C" harmonica. It is just too high. Last practice Elder Rivera started howling like a coyote during practice. I almost lost it and started laughing....it was so close to the actual sound. Of course maybe Elder Rivera was just trying to sing along, who knows? In Trujillo this week we found a music store that sold us a G harmonica, and Elder Miller sounds better already. Can't wait for next practice.
I continue to learn from piano lessons. Some people just don't have the natural coordination in their fingers. At first I thought it was all motivation, but there's more. I was teaching a lady who seemed so motivated, but by the third lesson she still couldn't move her fingers over the scales. Even when her little granddaughter showed her how, she couldn't coordinate all her fingers. Wait a second, how could the granddaughter, Cielo, just whip those scales out without any practice? Maybe I should teach the granddaughter. Last night a young teenager, whose family was just baptized, asked me for piano lessons. She seems really smart, motivated and coordinated...perfect, but she just couldn't get her fingers around the keys. Finally she went off with her friends, but her cousin stayed with me and wanted to try. He played my whole page of scales! I told them both to meet me at the church next week for another lesson.
We visited Sister Alicia again and brought her some supplies including Enfamil and vitamins for Marco. Three of us got in the back of a moto taxi with our heavy load. It's always a struggle for me to trudge up the sand hill to her house, but it was too much for the moto taxi. We had to get out and walk, and fortunately our driver carried the heavy load. 
Challenge question: Elder Volquez, one of our new transfers, likes beisbol and speaks Spanish like Matthias. Why? 
Chinese food Peruvian style.....mmmmm
Quail eggs, a Peruvian treat!
I should get a hat like this. They're popular and add 10"to your height. 
Maria & Angie, accompanists for district conference
Mmmmm...ceviche & lomo saltado
Selfie after Primary with Lidia & Trinidad 
World's widest beach 
Asparagus fields forever
Cookie jar, on to zone meeting
Food, or favorite pastime?


4 comments:

  1. I love the quail eggs and the super hat. Think how many quail eggs you could fit in that hat!

    We loved playing beisbol on pday on my mission with all Dominican missionaries! Maybe you could get a softball game started with your new Elder

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  2. All: Nice photo bomber in the picture of Grandma!
    We still don't recognize Grandpa without a beard!
    Lizzy: you need to add a # in front of the selfie picture label! And I mean hashtag, not a number sign!
    All: we like the dancer kids practicing for the parade! We liked the deer better!
    Martha: was that just in the middle of the city center, like a normal day or something?
    Joe: I like cheese. I'm just kidding, but my Mom keeps typing, Stop Mom!
    Hyrum: some of that food actually looks pretty good!
    All: we like the quail eggs!
    Martha: are they warm? How do the keep like that?
    Lizzy: are the quail eggs good?
    Joe: I like the chicken, I mean what's it called, I like both.
    Kids: we'd like to be elephants in a parade. Hyrum would rather be a monkey shark. There is such a thing, yes. (wink wink).Lizzy would rather be a cheetah zebra. Joe would like to be a great white shark.

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  3. Lizzy: and Grandma, you really could use one of those hats!!

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  4. Lyle: that is a lot of asparagus!
    Lizzy: the beach is so big!

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