This is a view of the port of Cartagena from up on the atalaya.
Just an idea of how busy the port was.
These were the missionaries that were called from the branch while they were there. Ana Robles was really really nice and sweet. Ma Carmen was the one who gave us the Christmas tree. She was a really nice friend to me. She ended up marrying someone here in the US and we went to her wedding reception in Provo? Alfonso was really really nice to us too. One of the first weeks we were there he asked me "Que tal?" and I had no idea what he was asking me- What what? He had to explain to me what it meant and how you answered someone who said that. He's also one of the first people who tried to give me a besito and I thought- "Woah!" I think he had to explain that to me too, because his English was pretty good. Poor Alfonso. All my memories of him are of confusion. He and Ma Carmen were dating before they went on their missions. Ana Granados, if I remember correctly, was in the Primary and had a strong personality. (Jenny)
I remember going to Mari Carmen's wedding in Provo, and that we went to Sizzler as a family afterwards. We didn't go out to eat much, so that was a pretty big deal. We were all in our dresses, so Mommy didn't want to take us to McDonald's. I vaguely remember the reception itself and that I was excited to see Mari Carmen, but I don't really have any memories from Spain of her. (MJ)
A front view of our house. The kids are in Mommy and Daddy's bedroom window. The other window is that of the living room. You entered a long hallway before getting to the living room. There was a living room and a family room, and kitchen, a garage, and a patio and a really big bathroom/laundry room on the first floor. On the second floor there was another bathroom and four bedrooms. Also, on the second floor, but accessible from the patio, was a terrace. We used to always know when the landlord was visiting because of the special way he rang the doorbell, which was actually out on the gate and not on the house- he would push it four or five times in a row and we would all panic and start cleaning like crazy! He liked to visit us occasionally because he couldn't believe that a family with six kids was actually going to leave his house intact. In fact, I think the story goes that when he found out there were six of us, he raised the rent. The mailman was also kind of funny- he wouldn't ring at all, he'd just open our front door and yell "Correo!" and throw our mail into our front hallway. We loved receiving mail, especially the magazines that Grandma Farrer sent us. She would sent Newsweek (or maybe we just subscribed to the International edition?) and Sports Illustrated, and then Bishop Sorenson, who was our Spring City postman at the time, would bundle up the church magazines and send them. Grandma used to go through the magazines and cut out the pages that were just advertisements so that it wouldn't weigh as much, and she would stick envelopes of Kool Aid and Ranch dressing mix in instead. We read everything in those magazines. We read everything we could in English. We even, eventually, read _Ishi, Last of His People_. I would probably like that book now, but for years it has been a metaphor for how desperate I was for English reading material that I would read _Ishi, Last of His People_. (Jenny)
I shared a room with Maggie, but at that point I still wet the bed often enough that after a while I stopped getting turns on the bed. I remember one distinct time that Elizabeth and I were playing in "her" room and we snuck around because we knew Jenny would freak out if she knew we were in there. I remember it being small with a bed against the wall and a largeish vanity.
When we watched TV in the family room, (which was in the back of the house?) seating was scarce, so once we got a seat in a chair or on the couch, if we had to get up and use the bathroom or get a drink, we always saved our place and no one else could take it while we were gone.
MJ
-
I know I was a gypsy of sorts when it came to which room I slept in. I was assigned to share with Jenny, but that didn't go over very well. For one, I remember our room was very small. Plus, for someone in high school to have to share a room with a six year-old... I often slept on the floor in MJ and Maggie's room on a mat that was red on one side and yellow on the other (I think). I remember one night that I couldn't get to sleep and Mommy told me to count to a thousand and I can clearly remember laying there on the mat counting for what seemed like ages. I eventually fell asleep.
Maggie referred to my run-in with the cactus on a previous post. I think I was sleeping in the boys' room because they had a black mosquito repeller that plugged into the wall (and I got so many mosquito bites it became a joke to count them...80, 81, 82...). While rolling over in my sleep I knocked over the cactus that was on their nightstand and subsequently rolled over on it. Mommy said I should be nicknamed "Dolores" and be wrapped up in cotton for how accident-prone I was. -
Jenny used to paint her fingernails in very fancy ways, including having a different country flag painted on each fingernail.
The lower part of the back terrace had roses that smelled so lovely. Although I can't remember much from Spain, I can always remember that wonderful smell. It seems like there was a hose out there that we used to spray ourselves when it got too hot. I had a Barbie doll whose swimsuit matched mine, so when we would lay out on the upper terrace to dry off I put her next to me on my towel. Elizabeth
The balcony was off of the girls' room. I was supposed to share the room at the end of the hall, but I threw a stink and one of the little girls had to move in with the other two. I seem to remember that this all happened when Grandma and Grandpa Farrer were visiting us and I was in my room grumping and someone, either Grandma or Grandpa, felt sorry for me and slipped a chocolate bar under my door while I was crying. But it could have been one of the other numberous times that I was grumpy and weepy..... (Jenny)
-
I remember that Elizabeth had to move in with Mary Jane and me in our front bedroom. There was only room on the bed for two of us so we would take turns sleeping on the floor.
Once Elizabeth got tired of sleeping on our floor and decided to camp out on the boys floor and rolled into a cactus they had on their dresser and got prickles all over her skin.
Maggie
The historic hill in the middle of Cartagena that still had some Roman structures and mosaics and things as seen from the port of Cartagena.
I remember going down to the dock. I remember that there was a submarine or something that was on display in the middle of a park. (MJ)
This was our chapel. Some memories- the Spanish version of "I Stand All Amazed" had the melody in the left hand and the members had a hard time singing along, so Mommy started penciling in the melody in the right hand, but the hymn was incredibly popular and they sang it all the time and whenever we noticed we were singing it, Mommy would have us scramble around the chapel and try to find one of the hymn books that she had already written in. If we couldn't, she hurried and tried to write it in. Oh, yah, Mommy had to play the piano. (Jenny)
-
I may be way off on this, but I think the picture of the chapel is connected with the picture of the cake on the previous page. There was a woman named Pilar (I think her last name was Sanchez) and she had gone away. I don't think it was on a mission, maybe she went away to school. Anyway, she came back and the ward threw a party to welcome her home. Thus the Pilonga poster. She is the one holding the cake in the other picture. (Maggie)
I remember the stairway up to the chapel. Was there an elevator? That might be a different memory, but I vaguely remember that occasionally we got to ride up in the elevator, and that someone special had a key?
MJ
I'm pretty sure that this is a view of La Manga, Mar Menor and all of its hotels as you approached it from Cartagena.
The van next to a beach somewhere.
The van and us in a field, probably having a picnic. Actually, this may be southern France or Italy or Spain.
It was always Jacob and my goal to walk all the way down to the dock. I bet we started out about twenty times thinking we would get there, only to get distracted by something interesting on the way. Finally, a month or two before we came home, Daddy walked with us and we walked all the way down. (Maggie)