Manana has arrived!

Hallelujah! Evidently manana has arrived - the internet man finally appeared and hooked us up, so we are now on-line and don't have to pay at the internet cafe (which became a process of paying to download a new virus and bring it home to our laptop - Thank God for Norton Antivirus!).

So, we have access to the rest of the world now. Until last night, we had no idea what was going on in the USA or anywhere else. Even the one English newspaper here is only local news and nothing about the rest of the world.

We continue to be overwhelmed with homework and studying. In some instances, we feel like pre-school children... we have a class where all we have done so far is learn the spanish alphabet and sounds, play alphabet bingo in spanish, and practice phonetic rules - reminds me a lot of when I taught kindergarten! Then I switch classes and go to Conversational Language where my brain gets completely blasted with new vocabulary and conversational situations every day! It's like going from Pre-K to college when the bell rings! However, I'm really learning a lot in that class! Three weeks ago, I couldn't even find my house. Now, I can give and take directions in spanish, meet and greet new people and carry on polite conversations, purchase anything in the market I might need, hold a lengthy conversation about the weather (I think I might even be able to become a weatherman on the news!), visit the bank and carry on general banking business, and catch a bus to anywhere! I have to keep looking at the little things that I'm learning and remember that three weeks ago I wasn't even close to where I am now.

After Conversation, Billy and I are in our Grammar class together. We spend 2 hours (all in spanish, of course) learning about the rules of language (nouns, adjectives, articles, verbs, etc.). So, again, when the bell sounds we go from using our "college level brains" to using our 3rd or 4th grade brains. Today, we are conjugating verbs (AHHHHH!!!). We have already finished the unit on nouns, articles, and adjectives (all 5 kinds of adjectives) and we are being tested at the end of the week. This is not a vocabulary class... this is all actual usage. Remember diagraming sentences in high school??? That's exactly the memory that keeps flashing through my mind while in this class.

Pray for our continued learning, and for our ability to actually use what we learn in conversation and ministry. We begin ministering in La Carpio tomorrow to Nicaraguan refugee children, so we will have lots of time to practice!!!

Love to you all!