#that also goes to a bunch of arabic reads I wish I had more cultural knowlegde to fully grasp

[pickingupmymercedes]

Random thoughts I have while running: I wish I could read in russian and understand the russian mentality, mainly because when you read Clarice Linspector in english you lose soooo much of her that I'm just convinced I'm losing sooo much of Dostoevsky when I don't read his works in russian.

Clarice once discribed saudades, and you cannot argue with me that

"Saudade é um pouco como fome. Só passa quando se come a presença"

can be fully translated in all its nuances to "Nostalgia is a bit like going hungry. It only goes away when you eat the presence"

[hexiva]

Book Reviews

I’m getting back into reading fantasy, getting a bunch of random books out of the library if they look good. I thought I’d post my thoughts on them.

The Tiger at Midnight, by Swati Teerdhala Inspired by the culture of ancient India and Hindu mythology, The Tiger at Midnight by Swati Teerdhala features a cat-and-mouse game of deception and thrills between a rebel assassin and the reluctant young soldier tasked to bring her to justice.

Just finished this one. There were definitely times when I thought I was just going to stop and take it back to the library unread. It’s by no means a terrible book, but in many ways it feels too much like every other YA book I’ve read. I really like the concept of the central romance: it’s an enemy romance, which I love, the characters have a pretty equal power dynamic, and there’s no gross abuse stuff to put me off. It also felt like a gender-reversal of the typical YA dynamics - Esha is like the dark, handsome, conflicted romance hero, and Kunal is like the sweet, repressed heroine. I liked that, and I really liked Esha as a character. Kunal was by no means unsympathetic either. But the relationship between the two of them, which was central to the book, felt really under developed. The narrative informs us that they feel something for each other very early on, when they’ve barely spoken, and continues informing us of their feelings, but I kept wondering . . . why? There were a couple of points where there was a line like “It’s strange that I feel so strongly for him given we barely know each other!” and I feel like, when you find yourself writing a line like that, you should sit back and think a bit about why you felt the need to point this out. It felt like there were opportunities for them to be pushed together and bond, and the book didn’t really capitalize on them - or, rather, acted as if they’d already been pushed together. It felt like it was missing a key moment early on in the book where they bond. There’s a reveal halfway through the book (pg 300 out of 500) that they knew each other as children, but it’s too little too late.

5/10. I’m thinking of picking up her next book because I feel like there’s a lot of potential here and I’d like to read a more polished version of this book.

Akata Warrior, by Nnedi Okorafor A year ago, Sunny Nwazue, an American-born girl Nigerian girl, was inducted into the secret Leopard Society. As she began to develop her magical powers, Sunny learned that she had been chosen to lead a dangerous mission to avert an apocalypse, brought about by the terrifying masquerade, Ekwensu. Now, stronger, feistier, and a bit older, Sunny is studying with her mentor Sugar Cream and struggling to unlock the secrets in her strange Nsibidi book.

Awhile back, I was at SDCC, and I walked by a publisher’s booth, and they handed me the first book in this series, for free! They just gave me a whole book for free! I’ve had this happen before at cons, but it’s usually self-published stuff, or spin-off books of dubious quality. But this is a book that’s perfectly relevant to my interests, a YA fantasy novel with an exciting new setting, and they just gave it to me! What a wonderful thing to have happen.

Anyway, I was hooked, and I got the next book in the series out of the library. I loved it. The woman at the publisher’s booth told me this was “Nigerian Harry Potter,” and I definitely got Harry Potter vibes from it. It honestly took me back to my days reading the original HP books in a way none of JK Rowling’s subsequent books (or the movies) have been able to do. That’s not to say it’s a copy, or anything - this series is way more eager to dig into the big, magical mythical stuff that HP mostly only hinted at, and is conversely much more willing to spend time in the real world and discuss real-world issues. It’s . . . really really good.

Also, as a personal bonus for me, there are multiple cool magical creatures which are arthropods - mythical spiders, cool magic wasps, I just love it.

9/10. My mom stopped reading it halfway through saying “As I get older, I’ve had less patience for books that aren’t very good.” But then again, she never liked Harry Potter as much as I did either, so maybe she just doesn’t get our generation.

Click more for reviews of We Hunt the Flame, Bloodwitch, and The Throne of the Crescent Moon

We Hunt the Flame, by Hafsah Faizal Zafira is the Hunter, disguising herself as a man when she braves the cursed forest of the Arz to feed her people. Nasir is the Prince of Death, assassinating those foolish enough to defy his autocratic father, the king. If Zafira was exposed as a girl, all of her achievements would be rejected; if Nasir displayed his compassion, his father would punish him in the most brutal of ways.

I really wanted to like this book. I’ve been reading a lot of Middle-Eastern history and the thought of a fantasy inspired by that is 100% my jam. But this book is just . . . not that good. It’s not offensively bad, it just feels like the first draft of another, better book. I actually did not finish this book. I gave up and took it back to the library.

The main romance feels very predictable, and honestly, it was giving me big Reylo fanfic vibes. The exposition, of which there is massive amounts, is clumsily delivered. It feels like it ought to be the second book in a series, because there are so many past events being explained all the time.

The one thing I kinda liked was the bits of Arabic in the book, and the choice to not exposit the Arabic bits on top of the fantasy bits. And I learned a new Arabic word from this book! That’s a positive.

3/10. Wish they’d spent more time on the editing.

Bloodwitch, by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes (and its sequel, Bloodkin) Vance Ehecatl was raised with every luxury he could imagine in a beautiful greenhouse within the powerful empire of Midnight. Vampires are the only guardians Vance has ever known since he was abandoned by his shapeshifter family as a baby quetzal, and he is grateful to them for generously providing for all of his needs. When an act of violence forces Vance from his sheltered home, he is startled to meet Malachi Obsidian, a fellow shapeshifter with conflicting ideas about Midnight and its leader, Mistress Jeshickah.

This is a new book from an author I loved as a child. Atwater-Rhodes published her first book at 14, when I was four, and I came across her books when I was 11ish and first learning to write. Her book Hawksong was the first romance story I really enjoyed, and its sequel Wolfcry was one of the first times I ever encountered a queer romance in a fantasy novel, at a time I was starting to wonder whether I was queer.

This book still caught the same interest I had in her books all those years ago. Bloodwitch is set in the same world as Hawksong, but centuries later. Personally, I would have preferred a book set in the same timeline, but it was still great to return to this world and its conflicts and magic.

With that said, it wasn’t perfect, and this wasn’t one of those times where I returned to an old favorite author and was like “Oh my god, I never appreciated what a genius she was when I was a stupid kid!” I was particularly struck by Vance’s character arc in the first book, which felt uneven. Vance is raised by the villains, and believes they’re the good guys initially. And then, early in the book, one of them kills his friend in cold blood, shouts at him, tries to kill him, and chases him out of their stronghold. And then . . . he goes back to them, and there’s ANOTHER, separate moment where he suddenly realizes they don’t care about him and turns on them. I really didn’t understand why that first moment didn’t shake his loyalty, but the second one did.

I was also kind of disappointed by the lack of queer characters. A lot of my favorite straight authors, when I checked back in on their work in 2019, have included queer representation, and because I knew that Atwater-Rhodes is herself queer, I was really hoping for some of That Gay Shit.

7/10. Give me that gay shit, Atwater-Rhodes, I know you’re holding out on me.

The Throne of the Crescent Moon, by Saladin Ahmed The Crescent Moon Kingdoms, home to djenn and ghuls, holy warriors and heretics, are at the boiling point of a power struggle between the iron-fisted Khalif and the mysterious master thief known as the Falcon Prince. In the midst of this brewing rebellion a series of brutal supernatural murders strikes at the heart of the Kingdoms. It is up to a handful of heroes to learn the truth behind these killings.

This, this was the book I wanted when I picked up We Hunt the Flame. This is the quality content I want in my fantasy novel. I fell in love with the main character, Adoulla, almost immediately, and I was terrified he was going to die. I just love this prissy, hedonistic, idealistic, middle-aged, fat hero so much, and I will RIOT if Ahmed kills him off.

I liked the other older characters in this book a lot too. Ahmed clearly has a knack for making cool characters. Dawoud and Litaz are cranky old ex-adventurers. Adoulla’s love interest is a middle-aged sex worker who really wants him to commit and marry her or fuck off, and I am so rooting for them, I want them to live happily ever after, they deserve that.

The treatment of sex work and sex worker characters in this book is also a major plus. There’s a lot of moral ambiguity in this book, where I’m not sure which character we’re supposed to believe, but the one issue the book takes a firm stance on is DON’T BE AN ASSHOLE TO SEX WORKERS, THEY ARE PEOPLE TOO. This book is written by a man and is not the kind of feminist fantasy I read a lot of (like We Hunt the Flame and The Tiger at Midnight are) so I was pleasantly surprised by this strong pro-sex worker’s rights message.

On the downside, I did feel like the younger characters were less interesting than the older characters. They still felt like colorful, detailed characters drawn with a skillful hand, but they also felt much closer to the kind of characters you usually see front and center in a fantasy novel. What I loved about Adoulla and company is that you don’t often see fantasy heroes who are fat and old and tired. The romance between the two younger heroes is competently drawn and believable but I did find myself wishing the camera would pan away from them and go back to the cool characters.

Other notes:

I found out that Saladin Ahmed is a Marvel Comics writer and is writing a comic about my favorite superhero, Ms Marvel, and I couldn’t be happier with that news.

I was certain, reading this book, that Ahmed plays D&D and that this book was inspired by D&D, and HA, CALLED IT. My nerd-dar is ON POINT.

9/10. Adoulla is my dad now, no take-backsies.

[riyuyami]

I found another fanfic for you guys, looks like I made an attempt at a cliche coffee shop au.

It’s actually kinda cute, if I do say so myself.

But anyway, here, enjoy The Great House Coffee Shop!

--

“Mutou.”

You look up from the file you're editing, staring up at the cold stare of your boss. You tense for a moment but relax a second later when you realize that Kaiba isn't mad or anything, he just always has a cold look in his eyes. You've known him for years and it still catches you off-guard. “Yes, sir?”

“Isono is absent today due to an emergency at home, I need you to do the coffee run today.” Kaiba says, handing you a small slip of paper. Written on it are a bunch of different orders, looks like it's for him and the board of directors, the Big Five as they like to call themselves. “Do you know where we usually get our coffee?”

“Uhh... it's that little shop that's on this street, yes? Just a few buildings down?”

Kaiba gives you a nod. “Yes, get these orders for us. Here, use this to pay.” He gives you a few bills, more than enough for the coffee, you'll have change after you make the purchase. A little part of you wonders if you can keep it.

“Get yourself something to drink, or keep the change, I don't care.” Oh, that answers that then.

You nod, standing up. “Yes, sir. Shall I go now?” He gives you a nod in return, turning away to head back to his office. You watch the other walk off and you let out a little sigh.

Your name is Mutou Yugi, and you're an employee of Kaiba Corp. You work in game development and design, but sometimes you are a bit of a lackey for Kaiba when his right-hand man is too busy to do whatever minimal task that needs to be done.

So, yeah, like right now, you get stuck with doing these small things.

It’s not a bad thing, you don’t mind doing things for your boss/sorta-friend, mostly cause you’re usually just sitting at your desk, playing online games.

Pocketing the note and the money, you make your way to the elevator and go down to the lobby. You hope this won't take long, you're working on a new board game design and you really want to get back to drawing out the designs for it. But coffee must be bought, and if that means it's coming from out of the building, Kaiba is going into a meeting.

He drinks the usual office coffee when he's not going to be dealing with bullshit, just... one of those little quirks the brunet has. And since it's outside coffee, that means that this meeting will be full of bullshit, considering that it involves the Big Five.

Once you get to the lobby, you walk right out the front doors after giving the front desk lady a little wave, and you're out on the streets. It's mid-morning, just around ten, but it's still sort of busy. Quietly, you walk down the street, looking for the cafe that Isono usually goes to, a tiny part of you wish you had brought your music player with you, just to have as you walked.

“Ah crap...” You wince. You just found the shop, but it's closed. There's a sign on the inside of the door that has a cute message written in blue.

Sorry everyone! We're doing renovations on the inside, so no coffee for at least a month!

With a sigh, you think it might just be best to go to a Starbucks or something, but you know Kaiba won't like that... and also, the nearest Starbucks is about a ten-minute ride on your bike. Like hell you're gonna ride back to work while trying not to spill six or seven coffees!

Maybe... there was another café nearby?

You take out your phone, opening the maps app to check if there were. You see a few locations pop up, but the closest to you are this one and another one just around the corner, some place called Great House. Well, maybe you can get your orders from there. Pocketing your phone, you quickly walk to the end of the sidewalk, then round the corner.

Five buildings down, you come to a brick building, the first floor is obviously a shop, the other three look to be possible-apartments. The door to the café is painted a deep red, 'Great House' is written on the door in gold, but you take note to the hieroglyphics painted under it.

“Per-a’ah...” You read out loud, heh, you know that word, that's where the word 'pharaoh' came from! And it means 'Great House', so that might explain all of that.

Hm, guess this place has an Egyptian theme to it, you bet Grandpa would love that. Oh hell, who are you kidding, you love it too.

The large window, which took up a good portion of the first floor's front, looked into the café. You glance through the glass, seeing that there was no one else in there, or at least no customers, but the sign on the window said 'OPEN'. With a shrug, you step inside, hearing a bell ring overhead.

“I'll be right there!” Someone called out from somewhere in the shop.

You take a moment to glance around while you wait, seeing how the inside was decorated. The walls are painted a soft sandstone color, with the borders of the wall the same rich red as the door. The tables are cherry wood, as are the chairs. The walls have images framed on them, seems they really do have an ancient Egyptian theme to this place, since the images show scenes of everyday life from ancient Egypt and the Book of the Dead.

There are two shelves on two of the walls, covered in little Egyptian statues. You recognize them to be gods. There were plants scattered about for decorations, and a TV was sitting on a stand attached to the wall, it was playing some morning news show, but the sound was off, subtitles were on the screen.

As you look around, you hear a door open, turning your attention to the counter. A man came out from a door, leading to the back. The man walks to the counter and looks up at you, the two of you are a bit surprised to see one another.

He is lean, but muscular from what you can see with that tight, short sleeved black shirt he’s wearing. He appears to be, judging by the theme of this place, Egyptian, reminds you of your grandmother’s side of the family! 

What surprises you about him is his hair, it's a lot like your own! Except where yours is lighter blond in the bangs, and a plum and black mix for the choppy hair you have in the back, his hair is a darker blond in the front, which some of it branches up into the thick, frizzy crimson and black spikes he had in the back.

He stares at you with crimson eyes before he smiles. “Welcome to the Great House Coffee Shop!” He greats in that deep voice you heard moments before. “What can I do for you?”

“O-oh, uh...” You dig into your pocket, pulling out the list. You approach the counter, holding it out. “I would like to order these, please.”

The man reaches out, taking the list, looking it over. You stare at his chest, rather than at his eyes, noting the necklace he wore, reading the images on it. “Atemu?”

“Huh? How did...” The man blinks, before looking at his necklace. “Ah! Clever boy, you can read hieroglyphics?” He asks, looking excited.

You give a nod. “Yeah, my grandpa is an archaeologist, he taught me a few things. Your shop is very... Egyptian themed. I'm guessing you have an interest in it? Or that you are Egyptian yourself?”

“Both.” Atemu replies with a smirk. “My father is, my mother is Japanese, but I grew up in Egypt for most of my life, I love the... what is the word... aesthetic? Yes, the aesthetic of the ancient culture, I love the colors and designs. I thought, hey, why not express my love for it here in Domino while I serve people coffee and pastries, yes?”

You let out a small laugh at that and he chuckles. “Well, anyway, I can make these orders for you, though I suspect that none of them are for you.”

“They're for my boss and his board of directors, they have a meeting coming up and need coffee.”

“Oh?” He turned to start making the drinks. “And where do you work, young one?”

“Kaiba Corp, surprisingly. And please, call me Yugi, since I know your name now. That is your name, yes?”

Atemu gave a nod as he got a machine working. “Yes, Atemu is my name. And Yugi? That's your name?” You wince, thinking he was going to make fun of you for it like so many others have. “I love it! Such an unusual name, but I think it sounds great! Yugi... it is 'game', right? Sorry, my Japanese is not as perfect as my Arabic. Better than my English though, haha!”

You laugh a little as well. “You’re doing great, and yes, it means ‘game’. My grandfather owns a game shop and loves all sorts of them, as do I. I actually work as a game designer for Kaiba Corp!”

He looks over his shoulder at you, eyes wide. “T-that is amazing! To work for Kaiba Corp… heh, I doubt I could ever get a job at such a place, not with Kaiba running it.”

“Why is that? He’s actually not a bad guy.”

“Oh, I know, he and I just do not see eye to eye.” Atemu shrugs as he sets down one finished coffee.

You raise an eyebrow. “What do you mean? Have you met him before?”

“We’ve crossed paths, and have dueled.” Atemu replies as he sets down another cup. He turns and flashes you a curious smile. “Do you duel?”

“Uhh… duh! Hehe, I use to be the King of Games when I was in high school! But I’m retired, working on games is my calling, but it doesn’t stop me from still pulling out my deck and playing.” You smirk, patting your hip, where your deck box sits on your belt.

Atemu chuckles. “I will have to test your skills one day, oh King of Games.”

The two of you quietly chat while he prepares each of the six coffees, it’s mainly over the Egyptian statues and images on the walls. He’s impressed by your knowledge and though you feel rather embarrassed about it, you appreciate the compliments he gives you. “Alright, here is the last one.” He says as he sets down the final coffee before looking at you. “And what would you like, Yugi?”

You blink. “What?”

“I’m sure you would like a drink as well. What would you like? Or would you rather be surprised?”

You look at him, seeing that sweet smile on his face as he waits for your answer. You can’t help the smile that crosses your own face. “Surprise me.”

“Excellent!” He grins and turns to make you something. “I hope you do not mind a frappe, I’ve got something great in mind for you to enjoy!”

All you can do is nod as you get your money ready, though you do try to see what flavors he’s put in, but he won’t let you, he’s blocking your view, his back facing you. You pout a little, though… you have to admit, you don’t mind seeing his backside in those tight jeans he’s wearing…

“Here you go!” He announces and you suddenly snap back to reality, flushed in the face. He sets the drink down in front of you with a smile. “Try it?”

“Oh, uh…” You look at his cute face and pick up the cold drink, taking a sip. You taste… white chocolate, but there’s also a sudden kick to it! Oh, w-wait, you know this…! It’s a chili! He put a chili pepper flavoring to it! “How did you know I like sweet and spicy together?”

“I didn’t, I honestly just guessed. You said to surprise you and sweet and spicy is an excellent surprise.”

You laugh at this and take another drink, it’s actually pretty good, you like it! “How much do I owe you?”

“It’s on the house.” Atemu says. “Think of it as a… thank you gift of sorts, yes?”

You’re confused by that, but when you pay, he gives you your change and the money for the drink, telling you that it is a gift. You just nod your head and accept it. “Come again soon, Yugi!” He calls out, giving you a wave.

“Hehe, I will, see you later, Atemu.” You happily call back as you walk out the door, drink trays in hand. You’re flushed in the face when you catch a happy, pleased smile cross his lips when he winks at you before the door closes.

You walk back to work with the taste of white chocolate and chili pepper on your tongue.

TBC?

--

The cafe is sort of based on this one place I went to right before I moved from Germany, it had an Egyptian theme, the owners gave me a free Fanta, and it smelled like strawberries. I wonder if it still exists.

[snsmissionaries]

2/6/19 -- Sister Nicole Ritman, Spain, Madrid Mission

The Story of Sany/I'm Officially a Cultured Citizen

Subject Line: This email will have two parts! The first is the story of our amiga Sany, who got baptized last Sunday, shared with permission. The second is just about my week.

 The Story of Sany

 Right about when I got to Málaga, we got a text from one of the members saying she had a friend we could go visit. She'd been going through some rough times, and so a few weeks back their other friend gave her a Libro de Mormón and just said "Sany, you mean a lot to me and I know you are going through a hard time. I'm giving this to you because this is what brings me comfort when I'm not feeling good and so I wanted to share it with you because you know I'd do anything to make you feel better and this is something that's important to me. You don't have to read it if you don't want, but I know it can help you." Sany started reading and once she told them she liked it, they invited us to teach her more. I don't know if you all remember, but like a month back I said that we had a first lesson with someone and I'd never seen someone change so much in just one lesson? Well that was Sany! Everytime we taught her, she was so committed to really studying and learning. She applied what she was learning to what she already knew and what she found the guide to the scriptures even though we hadn't showed her yet and looked it up there. She did the 21 day challenge of the Libro de Mormón diligently and really followed the commitments we extended. I don't think we ever had to extend a commitment twice and some she was already doing before we could extend (like starting on Ven Seguime as soon as she finished the 21 day desafío). 

A miracle that happened with Sany was that she lives here and has two daughters living in the Dominican Republic. Well one day Sany told us "I just found out that the church my daughter goes to is the same one! I didn't remember the name but she told me she told me three years back when her boyfriend introduced her to the church and got baptized. She's going on a mission in a few months and is getting ready to go to the temple." Well we were speechless. I'm not making it sound as surprising as it was, but seriously the member we had in the cita and both if us were like" what??!". It's so crazy how they found the church independent of another and gained their own testimonies and now are working to go to the temple together. I wish the missionaries that baptized her daughter would know this extension of the story! 

What I was most impressed with was that most people who work as internas (live-in caretakers for a senior) don't come to church because they work. Well Sany took her work to church. (I'm sure not everyone could but this was her solution). She would get up super early to get both the Señora and herself ready and would carry the wheelchair down the flights of stairs and push her all the way up the giant hill. We'd help her and the Señora loved going out for a stroll, yelling "venga, vamos, rápido! Rápido!" No quiero llegar tarde!" until I was practically running. Going down the hill is almost harder because you have to pull it from not speeding down into traffic. Good times jaja. The day of the baptism, she got permission to get off a few hours earlier to go to church and drop off the Señora. She was so excited! But then this Sunday she got super sick. :/ Good thing we had the baptism last week. 

 I'm Officially a Cultured Citizen 

 So I'll start this part of with a sad story. Three days after the baptism, we got a text saying the man who had baptized Sany had passed away. We hardly believed it, but we asked the Elders and the pres de Sociedad de Socorro and the Elders confirmed the text was talking about him. 

We actually were on our way to a cita with Sany so we gave her the sad news and she was so sad because she was so grateful to him for being a part of her step on the convenant path. We had a good discussion about life and death and the plan of salvation and I was feeling pretty reflective and pensive. 

Then, we leave the cita and see that the pres texted us. And guess what--it's turns out that he's not actually dead! He's not dead its his brother in law! Still sad for his family, but man alive we were so embarrassed. What a big fat fail. Probably the biggest one I'll ever have on the mission. I reread the original text and totally not our fault--it was written in a way that didn't clarify who they were talking about. But literally it was so crazy because lemme tell you it's a weird feeling to find out someone passed but it's a weirder feeling to find out that PSYCH they haven't. Like a TV show in real life except the jokes on you because you have to text the mission office and say "nevermind- we don't actually have to know what happens when we need a signature on the baptismal record of someone who's dead." I'm sure they think we're crazy jaja. And then when we texted Sany all she said was "ahhhh- vale." Luckily she hadn't brought it up since. I'm also glad we found out before Sunday when he would've walked into church alive and all three of us faint of shock. 

 So I chose the header because I felt like it has been a very *cultural* week! Yesterday, we went over for almuerzo with a Tibetan Man and his Moroccan wife and had cous-cous. Literally one of the best things that's ever entered my mouth! Basically you boil a bunch of tasty vegetables and pumpkin and halal beef and spices like cinnamon in a pot for an hour, and then pour it over a giant thing of cous-cous (tiny ball-shaped grain) and pour the broth, gravy all over. We were so close to finishing but we had a slice of pumpkin and some cabbage left. They gave us plates to help us eat the meat, but they wouldn't let us portion it out. We all used our spoons and ate from the same giant platter. They also wouldn't let us drink cold water until after the hot food because I guess mixing cold and hot is bad for your stomach. I suppose that's why they traditionally drink tea at meals, but since we politely refused the tea 50 times no lie (the wife didn't understand until I said it wasn't halal for us jaja and even after the husband would sip his tea and say "oh how delicious! Oh how healthy! Made with 5 herbs!" and made us smell it because we wouldn't sip it lol), we had mint infusion, which is just a fresh mint sprig with hot water poured on top and a little spoon of sugar. It was so good we bought fresh mint today to make it again! Maybe it won't be the same because we don't have the fancy Arab teapot they used to heat the water jk. Definitely an eating cita I'll never forget. 

 Then for Pday today I felt extra cultural because we went to the interactive music museum and saw instruments from all over the world! We stayed in the room with the piano, guitars and cello the longest and all played songs together. (OK in reality I tinkered a tune  while Hermana Zito played the cello. It's her major at BYU and it was worth my museum entry fee to hear her play lol We would all request songs and if she had the tune in her head she could just play it). I also loved the rooms where you jam out to crazy world instruments like the zither, the nose flute, double-guitars and even an ancient harp thing made from a human skull. (you pressed buttons to hear sounds of the instruments you weren't allowed to play). There was also a gladd floor with a medieval wall they uncovered and put a museum time capsule for 2033. I'll be back when they open that! 

 After we went to an Italian restaurant because H Mecca said it looked close to authentic. She ordered in Italian and chatted with the waiter and told us what to order. I felt a little less fake with her lol. We got gnocchi and margherita pizza and the other Hermanas got pasta carbonara which I tried and was probably the best. She gave it a 9/10 for authenticity so I figured that's as close as I'll get until I go visit her in Italy. 

 Then as we were walking back some guy stopped me (somehow he didn't notice the other Hermanas-just me) and in English (was Spanish but was determined to use only English) said "are you from the Mormon church? I love that church! I studied with the boys in Granada. I want to learn again." Hope he's cool and not creepy so I'll keep you updated if he ends up being cool! 

 Also something special about today is a finally debuted my pants! Hermana Mecca did too. Some pics mine don't look too flattering but they're not that bad in real life I promise. I didn't realize how cold my legs were all the time until I wore my pants! 

 Sometimes it's frustrating when you think of everything you should be doing as a missionary that you're not or you try to do but noon shows up (cough cough people who told us they would come to the capacitación H Mecca and I planned and didn't) but the mission is about learning to deal with daily disappointment and trying to find the little adventures. Like when we found a gorgeous historic Barrio in the foothills and the wind was blowing too much for wearing a skirt and it was too confusing to find a single address we wanted to pass by, but it was so gorgeous and so Spanish we weren't even mad jaja. And tip: if you ever accidentally offend a member, they will be appeased with brownies. I'm telling you brownies are the secret here! Convinced!!! 

 Os quiero, 

 Hermana Ritman 

 Contact Information

email: nicole.ritman@myldsmail.net

 Sister Nicole Ritman

Madrid Spain Mission

Avenida de Tenerife, 11

28703 San Sebastian de los Reyes

Madrid, Espana

 Malaga Week 8

https://photos.app.goo.gl/ULpL71c36qcwtFw28