This is where we are.
And this is real life.
We have survived our first week living in Bonaire!! To be honest the first day was definitely a cultural shock. It first hit when we went to the grocery store and everything was in Dutch! We hoped we were buying what we thought we were...
Bonaire is like a mix of Europe and Mexico.
It has a lot of European influence, but the streets and the houses look exactly like Tulum, Mexico where we spent our honeymoon. Its a good combination though I think.
It is SO hot here. But its a different kind of heat. It doesn't feel like Hawaii, or the East Coast, or the West Coast, or Utah. Its humid, but in a different way. And it is almost impossible to be anywhere without a fan or A/C on. But we are slowly getting used to it.
It is very different here than the States.
They only have one temperature of water. Luke Warm. No hot. No cold. If you want either you have to do it yourself. They do have a small water heater that you can switch on for the shower, but we don't use it. I never thought that I could survive without a hot shower, but right now a hot shower is the last thing I want.
They don't have dryers. Just clothes lines. The funny thing is, it is pretty windy here so your clothes dry faster than a dryer, but the chance of getting your clothes dirty while drying is much, much higher.
The way that they eat here is different too. Nothing is self-serve or buffet style. Even at home. We ate dinner at the Branch Presidents house and our food was brought out on our plate. Everyone gets the same amount of food and you don't get to choose what you want or not. and the only food on the table is the food on your plate. They did it the same way at the branch activity we went to last week. When it was time to eat they just handed us a plate of food. No serving. No choosing. Luckily all the food here is pretty good.
They have all sorts of wild animals that just roam around town. Donkeys, goats, pigs, iguanas, whiptail lizards, flamingos... we even saw a wild chicken. The iguanas and lizard creep me out the most.
Bonaire is a tropical desert.
They have beach and palms trees,
but also tons of cactus.
The ocean here is amazing. SO clear. you can see you toes when you are waste deep! just by looking down. you don't even have to put your head in the water or put goggles on! its kinda creepy though because you can also see fish swimming around your feet! They also just do free diving here. you don't need a dive master or anything and you see people just walking with there swim suits and tanks into the water from the beach! and the water is so warm. 90 degrees. Enough said.
They love the flamingos here. You see something to do with flamingos just about everywhere you go.
This is the place we are housesitting until September 26th. Yes it has a pool. and yes we found a crab in it the other day!
The branch here is very small and in spanish/papamientu, but we absolutely love it. The members are amazing here and so are the Elders and the Senior Missionary couple. I already feel like they are family. The hermanas are so excited that I am having a baby! They are constantly giving me food for the baby. They bring it to church and give it to me between classes. It is so funny. We watched a CES fireside last night and there was refreshments and one of the hermanas made me a to go plate with of a bunch of the refreshments and told me it was for the baby. Then she said that our baby will have lots of Bonairian Aunties. I'm excited.
Right now I understand very little at church. maybe 25% of what they are saying. but on the first sunday they asked me to teach Relief Society the next Sunday in Spanish. I accepted and I'm proud to say that it went pretty well. I wrote everything down that I wanted to say, so I basically just read everything, but they understood what I was saying even though I didn't. They hardest part was not being able to really understand their comments. I'm anxious to learn more spanish.
Our church building is just a house that they rent. Here is a picture of the Elder's Quorum lesson. Its on the front porch!
Inside the glass doors is where Sacrament meeting, Sunday School, and Relief Society is. The two rooms in the house are used for the primary and the Branch Presidents office and the youth meet on the back porch. Its pretty awesome.
Well, we live in Bonaire. Baby is growing and Brandon is doing well in school. We found a car and an apartment for when we are done housesitting. I will try to remember to take more pictures and keep updating!
