Shopping, Chinese, and Basketball!

Mike and I took a walk to the Recreo mall down the street yesterday. Saturday is the day that everyone goes to the mall. Everyone looks so happy spending time with their families. Family is such an important part of the culture here. The first thing we did when we entered the mall was get some ice cream (of course!) Mike ordered it all by himself! We shared a cone dish with raspberry ice cream and chocolate sauce on top. They have some interesting flavors, and I'm sure by the end of this trip we'll have tried them all! Then we tried getting money out of the ATM with no luck. I sure hope we can get an ATM to work somewhere! After our failed attempt at getting cash, we walked around the mall a bit, and it is huge! We got one of our little world phones activated so that we can make calls within the country in case of emergency. (Our iPhones stay at our homestay.) When you walk in the door, you need to get a ticket, which tells you when it's your turn to be helped. So after waiting a bit, we got everything worked out. After looking in a store for a hat for Mike, we were on our way out, and all of a sudden I hear "Alicia! Alicia!" behind me. I was thinking...this couldn't be me. But I still looked anyway, and sure enough, it was someone calling me! It was Brandon, one of my host brothers from last year! I hadn't had a chance to call them yet to let them know we arrived, since we just got the phone working, but then there they were! What a cool surprise! So Mike got to meet Janeth, Kevin, and Brandon. It turns out that they just moved three weeks ago, so they are no longer hosting volunteers. So next week we will probably visit them at their new place.

Once we walked home, we tried a different ATM with no luck, then walked back to the mall and tried yet again with a different pin, and decided we'd try another day since it still wasn't working. Then we started watching the movie, "God's Not Dead" on Netflix in our room, and then Wilson and Mayra came home from church around 8 with Chinese food for us. It was yummy! I was craving Chinese food before we left Wisconsin, so it hit the spot. Then they told us that they were going to the park to play basketball and soccer. I asked them if they play on a team, and they said no, and invited us! So we went to the park in their car with their niece and nephew and played some basketball, while Wilson played micro-soccer. It was really fun! They get pretty aggressive with basketball! Good thing Mike and I had been practicing our shots with HORSE back in Wisconsin hehe! Mike and I had a lot of fun, and we love that everyone just enjoys life here. Laughing and spending time with each other, and playing outside like kids till pretty late. We didn't get home till about 11:30pm!