Random October thoughts from Grandma

My hair is not quite that gray really. But it might be by the time we get home. We were in PriceSmart today. It is the closest experience to shopping at Costco available here.There was not a single person in a Halloween costume even though it is October 31st. Hope all of you are enjoying your Halloween experience this evening. Don't forget to brush your teeth.

I wanted to share some random experiences we’ve had recently. During the rainy season we have had some rip roaring thunder showers. The lightening is impressive and the thunder very loud. The thing that always happens during thunder storms is that it sets off car alarms. The crashing sounds of nature are impressive and kind of fun but the car alarms are annoying. It pours for a little while and then it stops. Usually the streets fill up and the trash floats around but then all of the water drains down to the ocean and everything is just fine. Except for the trash. When I first got here I couldn’t believe all of the trash on the sidewalks. Most of it was tied up in plastic grocery sacks but just sitting on the sidewalk. After a couple of weeks I realized that the custom here is to put your trash out for the trash trucks without trash cans! Most people bag it neatly but there are lots of individuals who come along and rip open the bags to see if there is anything they want to take with them. The poor trash collectors wear gloves but pick up the trash with their hands! They need a horse manure shovel, a backhoe or something serious to work with! There are some 50 gallon drums filled with trash set out by homeowners. I don’t know how the guys lift them in order to empty them into the truck. Whatever they pay them, it is not enough. There are people paid to sweep the sidewalks and gutters. Since there are almost no trash cans anywhere it is a constant battle. Also, a little known fact for those of you who live in the deserts of California or Idaho: Humidity makes it so that when you take a container out of the refrigerator it immediately becomes wet. After you squeeze the mustard you have to dry your hand so you don’t get your sandwich soggy.

The new Humanitarian Service couple are from the country outside of Preston, Idaho. He taught science and math in a high school in Salt Lake and then they moved to a farm 10 years ago. Here in Santo Domingo, they moved into an apartment in another section of our building about a week ago and are having a hard time adjusting to all of the noise. We are on a busy corner in a big city where cars honk their horns much more than cars do in the USA. Most of the taxis and busses have specialty horns in addition to their regular horns to attract passengers to their vehicles. We think it is much quieter than the non air conditioned apartment we had in Los Cristianos with a bar across the street that blasted music until 11:00 PM most nights. Here we close the windows and turn on the air conditioner and the ceiling fan. We are still doing that every night and it is the end of October. But the poor Francoms are used to chickens being the only noisemakers. They do have six sons and one daughter but I guess they have forgotten what it was like to live in the middle of chaos.

Their one big concern when they moved in was getting stuck in the elevator when the electricity goes off. They are on the 10^th floor. We assured them that there is a generator and the elevators always function just fine. Two days after they moved in there was an announcement that the generators would be shut down from 10:30 to noon and from 2:30 to 6:00 PM every day. They did promise to check each of the elevators for occupants before they turn off the generator. If I lived on the 10^th floor I’m not sure I could get home. I huff and puff to get up the six flights of stairs to our apartment. This is only a problem when the electricity is out. It used to be once a week or so. But it has happened almost every day since they moved in!!! They are walking up to their apartment just to practice. I always hope that the electricity is on so I can ride up in the elevator.

I learned a very interesting fact. Brother Call, who serves with his wife as Public Relations missionaries, was born into a polygamous family. He told us a bit about his childhood in a Family Home Evening. He explained that there were two manifestos. The first one is in the D & C and was for the United States. There was a second one a couple of years later for the rest of the world. He was the youngest child of the younger wife of his father and grew up in the colonies of Mexico. His first wife chose the second wife for her husband because they were told by the prophet that they should move to Mexico so they could live the principle. It is amazing to me to realize that he lived the experiences of my great grandparents!

This last photo is one of Rosario with the Evans girls taken about two months ago. Cute girls, all of them! Morgan, Hannah, Kate and Rosario with Mallory in front.

Love to all of you!
Mom/Grandma/Jeri