Silabario HispanoAmericano

We came to the end of our first ten modules teaching "English for You Now."  About a dozen students made it through to the end. The lessons are well-thought out, fun to do, and students learn without realizing it. They want to know the meanings of all the vocabulary words, and they are eager to share Spanish words with us. Most of them want to keep on with the next set of modules. We will be forming new beginning classes in the next few weeks.

Our most faithful pupil, Victor Sepulveda, single and in his sixties, gave us this Silabario, Spelling Book, as a gift as we gave him his English for You Now participation certificate. The Silabario has been around since 1948, used by 19 Latin American countries, and was adopted by Chile as their official spelling book in 1964. Only recently has it been replaced by newer books. All the adults who see me carrying it look at it with fondness and ask how my study of Castellano is going.

A page from the Silabario.

The third Sunday in August we made a return trip to the Penco Stake building overlooking Bahia Concepcion, the steeple of which is visible down the street to the right. Barrio Crav meets in this building. The sweet lady sitting in front of us showed us her hymnbook, which turned out to be a record of her entire church membership--full of pictures of missionaries, letters, and programs. It makes her happy to leaf through it.

Plum trees blooming in front of the Catholic abbey on Calle Cochrane.

Line of palmas, palm trees on Avenida Los Carrera.

Alcachofa, artichoke, from a vegetable stand. The artichokes are displayed like beautiful green roses. They are fresh and incredibly delicious.

We visited Marcia's  family  while she is on her mission in Peru. Her three sisters were baptized before she left. Here Elder K. is holding Victor, a week old, the third son of one of Marcia's older sisters.

Victor's bisabuela, great grandmother. She likes to sit next to the window and watch her great grandsons play outside. Marcia's mother and this abuelita are planning on being baptized this weekend.

 Andrea has lately gone into production making woven articles for North American families of missionaries. Manolito drew the design for her trademark, the Ayun, which means Illuminated Heart in Mapundong.

  

Although we appreciate our high rise apartment, we still pass by our still-uninhabited dream home on Chacabuco and Colo Colo. It is for rent by another company, and they are not having any better luck. If only they had known we would have taken care of it all this time without asking for payment. Although the heating bill alone probably costs more than our apartment rent. It's a great location for a restaurant or boutique shops.

Hna. Kauer told us about the Truxells, who live in this high-rise on Lincoyan overlooking Parque Ecuador during the hot Las Vegas summers. They bought the apartment eight years ago after visiting Concepcion to pick up their son as his mission ended. The Truxells were packed to leave for the States when Hna. Truxell, a school teacher who speaks no Spanish, had emergency surgery for a cancerous mass. She is in good spirits waiting for chemotherapy and the strength to make the flight home. Hno. Truxell is a retired phone company lineman, and he appreciates seeing the interesting phone lines all over Chile. Telephone linemen here in Concepcion, it must be said, have been cleaning out some of the more egregious old tangles.

Friday morning we took the Outback to the Municipalidad de Hualpen to make the last payment of our Permiso de Circulacion, which allows us to actually drive the car in Chile. It cost about $60.00 each payment. They must not be charging as much as the Registro Civil, which has much nicer offices and furniture than the Municipalidad. You have to pay where the last payment was made, so we were glad the car hadn't come from Antofagasta or Puerto Montt. 

On our weekly shopping trip we came home with this Confort brand toilet paper, which includes a rolled-up spare of portable t.p. down the empty middle of the roll. Several of them are now stashed in the Outback.

 The days are getting longer, and with occasional breaks from the clouds and rain, there is enough sun to encourage my dependably blooming balcony garden of calendulas and geraniums, which I have moved to larger pots. The semillas de espinaca, spinach seeds have even sprouted.

 
Saturday evening we could feel our apartment building swaying long enough to give me a touch of motion sickness. It was a 6.4 earthquake originating in Valparaiso. We like to check on http://earthquaketrack.com/p/chile/recent to see the most recent earthquakes up and down Chile.