september 19, 2011

hiiiiiiiiii everyone,

oooh you know, just sitting here NOT IN AMERICA writing my email. that's right everyone, my mission was NOT in fact to the MTC. i'm in TAHITI!! travels and everything went smoothly, except i was a little congested so it kind of felt like my eyeballs were going to pop out of my head during some parts of the flight. and despite my legitimate phobia of flying over the ocean, i made it safe and sound. it's really surreal flying over the ocean, by the way. it kind of looks like you're upside down because EVERYTHING is blue. anyway, i pretty much had to sign a contract with my own blood and promise my first born (sorry mom, no grandkid fun for you) just to get my luggage over here though. whew. but. the point is. i am here. it is awesome. in order to give you a better image of tahiti, i would like you to imagine in your mind the most beautiful place you've ever seen. then, multiply that by approximately...A BAJILLION. and then, you might understand the beauty of this place. seriously. my companion is probably tired of me gasping audibly and oohing and aaahing over everything. and the stars are different here too! i tried looking for the big dipper and then i was like oh wait. i'm below the equator. WEIRD.

anyway, my first morning here i was awoken by the sounds of roosters crowing. they were just cockadoodlin' it up all over the place. yeah. there are chickens and roosters everywhere here. all over. and dogs. and the dogs are freaking disgusting. they're like some canine zombie army that roam the streets. bleh. sooo i try to avoid them at all cost so i don't get zombiefied too. and/or lose my hair and get rabies or things like that. ANYWAY. my mission pres and his wife are cool and nice. i don't actually remember anything that i said to them the first night because i was suuuper out of it. i do remember trying to speak tahitian to them but i dont' remember what i said. probably something insulting. so i'm in my first area on the island of tahiti, near the city faaa (yes, that is the actual name of the city, my keyboard did not break or stutter). i got put in a trio with one tahitian sister who is my trainer, and another american sister that got here about two months ago. both are very nice and very patient, and i have been able to learn a lot from both. we're starting to get to know each other a little bit better and break the ice so meals and car rides aren't totally silent anymore. ha! oh yeah. we're not on bikes, we have a car. guess who's gonna get SUPER FAT? THIS GIRL. i actually really hate the car. because the roads here are INSANE and windy and uppy-downy and there are speed bumps every 20 feet and guess who gets car sick super easily? THIS GIRL. so i feel like i want to barf about 100% of the time, and then i do about 50% of the time. oh yeah, did i mention that i've been barfing like somebody committed me to it this week? it's been really cute. NOT. i dont' know what the deal is, but i've been pretty sick lately. it's not the food or the water. but i'm feeling better the past few days, so hopefully it's just some weird "hi i'm your body and i hate living in tahiti" thing that i'll get over. by the way i'm terrified to try and drive here because i think evreyone takes speed or meth or some kind of drug before they go on the road. seriously. i get scared.

let's see.. i have like a bjillion things to say but i can't organize my brain. the other day we accidently locked ourselves out of our house so i won the love and adoration of my companions by climbing up through the teeny little bathroom window so i could open the door. in retrospect, i'm not quite sure how i fit, because it's a pretty small window and it was really high. carried by the spirit or something, i guess. haa oh yeah, i met one of the ward members (the ward mission leader, actually) and he was like "hey soeur, did you take a picture the day you got here? you know, like of yourself?" and i was like "...no..." and he was like "oh you defintiely should. that way, you can see and compare how fat you get on your mission." HAHAHAHA AND THEN I PUNCHED HIM IN THE FACE!! not. i just laughed. little did he know, my stomach's recent rebellion has prevented my from gaining weight despite the MASSIVE PORTIONS OF FOOD people giv eyou here. it's soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo goooooooooooooooooood though. even when i was barfing i still wanted to eat because it's just so delicious. the fish, the fruit. oh my gosh the fruit. so good. and i had my first steak-frites the other day, which is basically just a huge slab of meat served with fries and this really incredible sauce. gaah! so good! but everything here is really really expensive so it kind of sucks. but still so pleasing to my palate.

anyhoo, we have quite a few investigators right now so we stay pretty busy, so it's good. yesterday we went tracting fo rthe first time and it was actually way fun! well, maybe not fun. but it was good and we were able to talk to some people and set up some lessons. the people here are all super nice so i wasn't afraid of getting spit on or anything. we have two people that we're teaching right now that only speak tahitian, and they're really old. and i don't understand anything they're saying. i taught my first lesson in tahitian the other day, and i felt good about what i was saying but i had NO IDEA what the heck the lady was saying back to me so i just kept looking at my companion, and she'd nod to me to say yeah go ahead, ahha. she's a saint, my companion. anyway, the lady is really cute but she talks like she has a mouthful of food that's she's chewing with no teeth. and thens ometimes she'll laugh and cover her face with her hands and she just looks so cute that i start laughing too so she thinks that i understand by i'm like NOPE FOOLED YOU I STILL I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON! haha! it's frustrating. but i know it will get better. i just have to keep trying.

anyway, my companion is waiting to use the computer so i think i'll wrap this up. i forgot my camera cord but i will remember to bring it next week so i can send pictures! oh yeah, one more thing: people don't use toilet seats here! it took me a few days to realize that. every time i would go into the bathroom at our house, the toilet seat would be up. and i would be like what the heck? is there secretly a man living here? is one of my COMPANIONS secretly a man? who knows. so i asked my american companion about it and she was like yeah they just don't use toilet seats. some places don't even have them when you go. so that was interesting. anyway, on that note i guess i'll end. i'm happy to be here. adjusting has been interesting, but it's been good and the people here are very warm and generous. i love you all and hope everything is going well!

love,
soeur hansen