Saturday, November 28, 2009

Since we had stayed up so late last night, we actually slept in this morning and it was very nice.  After breakfast, we spent the morning cleaning (oh joy, oh bliss).  First, we started with the kitchen floor - I wasn't sure when the last time it had had a proper cleaning and so it got done three times: once with soap, a rinse with plain water and then again with vinegar - it sure looks clean now! :-)  After that, it was time to clean the bathroom (NOT one of my favourite jobs) including the floor with vinegar.  We don't have a vacuum so I couldn't do the carpets, but the tile floors are sparkling clean. :-)  I was sweating by the time I was done the cleaning and so I sat down on the living room floor under the fan to cool off.  Even though it gets hot here, we find that the fans are effective enough to cool the place down.  Sometimes we do have to put it on 3 (high) for a little to get it cooled down fast if we are just coming in from outside and they haven't been on, but hopefully that means that we won't have to use the air conditioner a lot once we buy a house.  I prefer fresh air (in a house and in a car) much better than air con (as they call it here). 

After that, we played a few games of cards - we leave them on our kitchen table as we are always sitting down for a game or two - and then we had lunch.  After lunch, we played some more games and then got ready to go to the church Christmas party.  Everyone was asked to bring something for it (an entree or a salad) and so I decided to bring 'Char's Meal' which is pasta with spaghetti sauce (this time with hamburger) and shredded cheese melted on top.  It was always a favourite with the girls when they lived at home and it's easy to make, so I figured that it was a good choice.

Christine and Chris asked us if we would go early to the chapel to help set up for the party and we were happy to do that.  Since they don't have a gym yet as part of their building, they just have regular chairs to sit on during church time and so we took all of the hard plastic ones and stacked them and just left the nice soft cushy ones around the outside of the room.   After that, we set up some tables outside which the food would go on and then decorated the tables and put up garlands and ornaments around the courtyard.  If you have already looked at the slideshow of the chapel, you would have noticed that there is a courtyard of grass in the middle of all the buildings and that there are seats (benches) around the outside of the courtyard.  This is where we held the eating part of the party. 

I couldn't believe how much food had been brought by everyone (there were about 80 people there) and yet, by the time we had all finished eating, there was very little food left.  Perhaps being out in the fresh air gave everyone a good appetite.  It was lovely being able to hold a Christmas party outside and we were all wearing our shorts and sandals, too - wouldn't be able to do that in Canada, eh?  :-)  After dinner, Santa came and gave the primary children all a gift (each parent had been asked to provide a $5. gift for their child to be put into Santa's sack) and a loot bag.  Then, since there were loot bags left over, the youth were asked to come up to see Santa - it didn't take long for them to get there once they realized they were getting a bag of goodies. :-)

After dessert (cupcakes and pineapple with ice-cream), we all went into the chapel where a program was presented.  The children played a game of 'Bob and Statue' which they really loved playing.  Basically it's like the game of Statue where you move around to the music and then have to stand still like a statue when the music stops - the difference between that game and the 'Bob and Statue' game is that when the music stops the first time, you have to bob (crouch down and be still) and the next time the music stops, you have to stand still like a statue.  The game continues like that alternating between bobbing and being a statue and you have to remember which one you have to do when the music stops.  The Relief Society President is also a music teacher at a primary school and so she had brought some castanets along for the children to use while they sang another song - that was fun for the children as well.

After that, we sang carols amidst readings from the Bible (Luke 2) which talked about Jesus being born.  There were also some musical presentations - a trio (the R.S. president's sister and two sons), a quartet (the trio plus Trudy - another lady in our branch) and a two solos (by one of the R.S. President's sons).  It was a lovely evening and I was very pleased at how many people I knew that were there even though we have only been here for three weeks.  The party started at 5pm and we were finished cleaning up and home by 8pm.  Mike took some photos of the party and he will put them into a slideshow tomorrow for you guys.