here's the picture of marisol and teddy writing their story on friday...love them!


saturday we spent the whole day - literally, almost sun up to sun down - working on the roof at the grandma's old house that some of her kids now live in. this woman is the definition of a matriarch...she has at least 11 kids (that i've met) and who knows how many more. she's the one who asked paco and i to replant a tree last week because she didn't like where it was. anyways, the roof was in horrible shape. adriana fell through up to her thigh because the wood was rotted but no one could tell because it was covered by like 3 layers of roofing paper. she was fine but has a nasty cut. with about 13 people we managed to get it done in a day and a half - we finished up the edging on sunday afternoon.
saturday night we watched the big fight in las vegas. everyone at church is super in to boxing...paco and david grew up watching fights together with their uncles. it's actually kind of interesting when i realized there's technique and purpose behind the punches hahaha. the guy we were rooting for lost and looked horrible by the end...his face was so swollen he looked like some monster. eek.
kerly, adriana and david's daughter, is SO FUN to be around...she's at that stage where she talks and talks and talks but so far only says a few intelligble words. she's good at repeating, though, so we make her say all kinds of funny things. she can shake her finger at you and say, 'no nina no!'
i stayed at church on sunday night, too, because today there were no classes since it was a festival day. today was adriana's birthday! she's 17 and married with a 1 year old daughter. that girl grew up fast. she's doing pretty well though. we all made breakfast together and then went to visit an uncle - kid #11 of the grandma - at his church.
paco, cyndy (his sister) and i went to the segundas - second hand stores - and oh my goodness. i don't know how these places work, but clothes from everywhere for prices i have never heard of. i found a shirt from wicked, the play, for 25 pesos. that's like $2. they go for THIRTY at the show. gah! anything and everything you can think of, household wise, can be found at a segunda in ensenada. no joke. it's pretty overwhelming.

i feel like i've hit a wall with my spanish. i've been warned about and heard of this wall, and i think i'm there. i feel like the more i can understand, the less i can say because of how much more i understand, and therefore i realize how dumb i sound. it's fine here with the kids and workers because they're forgiving and have listened to me for 3 months...but when i'm out with friends i feel like i have the vocabulary of a toddler. it's annoying and i'm not sure what i can do to get better...i think i just have to keep listening and making a fool out of myself...but really. i'm not sure how much more patience i have. lourdes? come down and be my private tutor?