Week 38

Missed taking photos three out of seven days this week :(  To make up for a lack of photos for Project 365, at the end I'll share some unusual things that have happened this weekend.

The rains are late coming again this year so the lake is getting lower and lower as you can see in this photo...

Wednesday we had a visitor!

Bethany is a friend of a friend; she is studying in Chile this semester, but came to Cordoba for a few days. We had fun showing her around our city and introducing her to our favorite ice cream place. We really enjoy getting to know these college kids who are either majoring or minoring in Spanish and doing a semester overseas. Love their adventurous spirit!

As we slowly move forward with buying the lot, we're thinking ahead to what needs to be done. Especially after the hole-in-the-wall fiasco, putting up a fence will be the number one priority. Happened to think that maybe we could buy used fencing that just needs to be cleaned up and painted, so we stopped at a compraventa (a place that buys and sells used furniture, building materials and so on). While Ivan talked to the owner I was wandering around and came across this uber cute old TURQUOISE agitator...

...it only washes clothes and then you have to either wring them out by hand or use a centrifuga (another machine that spins the water out of the clothes). We have an old agitator but it's not nearly as cute because it's plain old white; it doesn't work any more and Ivan has plans to convert it into a vegetable planter.

My original idea didn't work out for the nightstand-turned-side-table -- instead of using the two Walmart baskets in the space left by the missing drawer, I found one big basket that fits in perfectly. The two baskets had leather handles that stuck up too far and got in the way of the drawer on top. I'm much happier with the one big basket :)

I just stuck the round basket on top while taking the photo; it didn't stay there. This is a pretty small table and it is normally covered with Ivan's STUFF. Papers and books are usually spread out all around his chair.

I found the large basket at a store in town called Wishful. It's a interesting/odd combination of housewares and toys. On one side you're likely to find all kinds of decorative items for the house as well as dishes, kitchen utensils and silk flowers. On the other side it's like a mini Toys R Us.

I'm still getting used to shopping here and how you can only find certain things at certain kinds of stores. In the U.S. you can find pretty much anything you need at big stores like Walmart, Target or Meijers. But here if I want band-aids, I HAVE to go to a pharmacy. If I need a garden hose I HAVE to go to a ferreteria (hardware store). Yes, we do have a Walmart in a town about half an hour away and I can get pretty much anything I need there. BUT we don't go to Cordoba that often so usually it's necessary to visit a variety of local stores to get everything on my shopping list.

Okay, on to the odd happenings...

We woke in the middle of the night to hear water dripping...the tank on top the roof was overflowing. Not much we could do in the dark so we eventually just went back to sleep. But first thing this morning Ivan hauled a ladder up to the roof to check things out. He was more than a little startled when he pulled the top off the tank and saw a head in the water! Someone with a warped sense of humor had used the head from a child-size mannequin as the float on the water tank fill valve. It was a boy buoy! LOL  Unfortunately he didn't have the camera with him. Wouldn't that have made a great photo for Project 365?!

This evening we got a text message from a friend asking for help. She had gone away for the weekend and left the dog in her bedroom, which she locked. No problem except she forgot to leave the key with her teenage kids! So she asked if Ivan could pick the lock and let the dog out. This is not something we covered in missionary orientation :)

As they say, the greatest ability for a missionary is FLEXability!