Hair Journal

A while back I was in desperate need for some help with my hair.  I will admit I’ve been spoiled over the years, having others cut and color my hair.  A friend of mine in Los Vilos always seemed to have her hair styled nicely, so I got the name of her ‘beautician’ (now there’s a word from the past!) and headed over for my appointment with Carola at her ‘Peluqueria’.  It is always nice to chat with the lady doing your hair but having very limited conversation skills, our ‘chat’ was pretty soon dead. Carola owns a spacious beauty-parlor. When I arrived I was the only customer for the first 15 min. then a few more patrons entered and sat down to wait their turn.  It was very cold inside!  She was the only one working and there must have been 10-15 people waiting by the time I left.  Chileans seem to be very patient when they have to be, in a Post Office or government line. However, they all know how to push their way to the front of a counter and get served first when that is an option!  I felt like I had an audience this day, but if there was anything out of the ordinary happening, they didn’t seem to notice. 

Carola began coloring my hair by ‘painting’ the dye on top of my hair with a paintbrush; yes, a real big, clumsy paintbrush that splattered everywhere.  *I know Dale can sympathize with the ‘paint brush’ issue because he has helped paint homes with really horrible brushes and paint that is more water than paint.  Next she pulled out a box of plastic wrap and proceeded to ‘wrap’ my entire head several times with saran wrap.  I was then moved under a large electric heater. A type of helmet was put over my head (different from the hair dryers I’ve ever seen used in the states). When I began to hear a loud noise, I looked up into the mirror across the room. I was startled to see huge clouds of steam escaping out of my helmet-covered head.  *Here’s where I was reminded of a movie our family loved to watch called ‘Chitty-Chitty Bang-Bang’. There’s a scene where the father (Dick Van-Dyke) goes to a carnival to earn some money, taking with him his latest invention; a hair-cutting device that is attached & powered by him pedaling his bicycle. By the time he notices the smell of burnt hair, and he turns to see his client, there is smoke pouring out from the helmet and  then, when removed, there is not a hair left on the top of his head.* This was the image I saw when I looked into the mirror at the Peluqueria!  I remember thinking this can’t be happening.  It’s 2014 and I am in Chile in a nice salon paying to have my hair done.  I remember hearing the Eagles sing “hotel California” on a bad radio connection, as I was being cooked under the loud machine.  I was relieved that my prayers were answered and I still had all my hair when she finally set me free.  But not for long. Because next I was taken over to the hair-cutting chair and out came the Razor Blade! It is the first and hopefully last hair cut I’ve ever had that was done entirely with a razor blade. I was left with super short and a very ‘ragged’ cut.  When I got back home I found a pair of scissors and tried to even it up. The cost of this adventure wasn’t bad. (About $30 in USA dollars)  Pretty cheap considering food, clothing and most everything else you buy in a store (or at the Feria) is tiny and costs about double what it would in the US. 

I guess having hair (or lack of it) is one of those life-long problems we all have to endure.  It’s a full time battle I’m waging against grey hairs, wrinkles, arthritis; and other aches and pains of old age. But it beats the alternative as Grandpa Roland Schram always says. I will end with this quote I love.

“I don't want to drive up to the pearly gates in a shiny sports car, wearing beautifully, tailored clothes, my hair expertly coiffed, and with long, perfectly manicured fingernails.

I want to drive up in a station wagon that has mud on the wheels from taking kids to scout camp.  I want to be there with a smudge of peanut butter on my shirt from making sandwiches for a sick neighbors children.  I want to be there with a little dirt under my fingernails from helping to weed someone's garden.  I want to be there with children's sticky kisses on my cheeks and the tears of a friend on my shoulder.  I want the Lord to know I was really here and that I really lived.”    ― Marjorie Pay Hinckley

The Big Tree

April 24, 2014

We had a super fun time at this Soc Soc (sociedad de Socorro) dia en el campo.  It was at Hna Nancy Chavez out past Salamance. I loved the huge tree that we ate under.  It was warm so shade was appreciated.  Sister Nancy makes herbal tea and other natural products like dried fruits and jams.  Everyone always brings their own plates; cups and utensils to any functions.  They wash them (rinse them) and reuse them as necessary.  This day they were used for desayuno and almuerzo.  After eating we went for a 15-20 walk down to the river bed. The water was cold and it felt good on our bare feet.  It's the dry time of year so very little water was in the riverbed.  Grapes looked to be doing fine--- We should have some more Super Raisins soon!   enjoy the photos!

​

Baby Emily

Elder and Sister Schramm

Tajamar 171   

Los Vilos (Coquimbo Región)

CHILE     1940000

April 15, 2014 (yes, we did our taxes!)

Dear Kids (and Grandbabies!),                                                                          

I am writing this in the style of an old-fashioned letter.  First I want to say thank-you for sending all the photos and little video clips of the Spring Break Schrammily Reunion!  It looked like so much fun.  I loved that you did all the normal things.  Charlie did an awesome job with a Treasure Hunt; a cake was made in behalf of Teddy Bears Picnic; lots of Pig-out parties (those M&M cookies looked especially good.)  You watched What About Bob & even managed to get the Bartlett Bug!!  Wow!  You went all out!  Did everyone get sick?  Did you send texts to each other all night long with updated statuses on who was in which bathroom etc.?  Also, the painting job on the deck stairs looks awesome!  The trip to Wilmington’s boardwalk and visit to Kilwins Ice-cream parlor absolutely made my mouth water!  I didn’t hear if you made it to Max’s but I’m sure you didn’t lack for food! The pictures of the ocean and clear blue skies are solace to my soul!

Today was a tough day. I guess really we had two hard days. We’ve been waiting for the perfect P-day (Monday) to go to a ‘big-city’ and do some shopping. Dad needs new jeans as his only pair is wearing out and he didn’t bring any ‘work-out’ clothes for our morning walks. I wanted some shoes but they didn’t carry any in wide widths. At any rate, we set out early in the morning to go to the mall in La Serena and Jumbo (Walmart).  About half-way there we got a phone call from the district president informing us that a baby in our branch had passed away.  It was hard to have any fun after that phone call.  Everywhere I looked I was reminded of babies. Your dad had to leave and go back to the car and get out his computer. He spent some time helping the new branch president learn about funerals (Manual 2). The shopping trip was somber and we went straight back home to the church to grieve with others.

We knew the baby was sick and had gone to the hospital. Her name was Emily. She was born Dec 2, 2013. Just 4 months old. I was particularly attached to her because all last fall I was watching Jocelyn (mom) grow her baby and I was thinking of my own daughters back home in like manner.  They have an older son, Sebastian, about 4 years old.  I attended the baby shower. I even won a game! We were each blindfolded and give a piece of paper and pencil. Then we were to draw a picture of a baby. Sebastian chose the best drawing.  Well, having watched a blind person draw (maybe in a movie or on TV?) I understood that if I used my other hand to mark positions on the paper for instance, where I had begun the circle for the head or eyes, I could complete the circles properly.  I did draw a pretty good looking baby complete with pacifier and other accessories! 

One day at church I wore my dress with the red shrug. Jocelyn loved it and I told her I liked her skirt. So as it happened we ended up trading.  I came out ahead on the deal as I was happy to receive 2 skirts in the trade!  Well, where her little Emily arrived she was the cutest baby ever (next to our grand-daughters of course!)  Everything was good and the baby was growing well.  Last month I was sitting in Relief Society and glanced over at a woman nursing baby Emily (and I knew it wasn’t her mom). Turns out Jocelyn had to go to work and so her sister (member but less-active) came and was feeding baby Emily. She has a baby of her own just a few weeks younger and evidently had plenty of milk to spare.

Every week the sisters meet in the church to visit and knit (Tuesday nights). Last week Jocelyn brought the refreshments. She baked apples and filled them with a type of cream filling.  She learned how to knit last fall (okay so it was ‘spring’ here but somehow October just isn’t spring in my mind…)  The next week she came with all these cute baby hats, booties and dresses she had knitted. Last Tuesday she brought a pastel pink dress she had made (for Easter?) and another sister (Bernarda) was crocheting flowers to attach to it.  Everything changed so fast. As I understand it Emily got sick (developed into pneumonia) and when they took her in to the hospital they found that she had an enlarged heart.  It was too late and the illness had been too much for her tiny body and so she succumbed.

I remember all too well the feeling we had when we learned baby Gemma had a heart problem. We are so thankful for the wonderful doctors who took their time and followed proper procedures in a timely manner.  The government healthcare here is a total disaster. We’ve been to the hospitals. We know how it is. So many of our dear members have health issues left unattended. At best they are diagnosed and then told to go somewhere else to a specialist and maybe they are seen in 6 months or a year.  Our RS president lives in constant pain. I know she needs a knee replacement.  She always has extreme pain in her chest and her left arm.  I have told her and she knows how serious it is. She has been to the doctor but was put off and then needed papers to see another doctor etc….  It doesn’t surprise me any longer to see blind, maimed or crippled bodies shuffling down the streets.  And let’s not talk about the extremely high rates of cancer. It’s just scary.

Back to Emily, yesterday the little body was in the tiniest casket. It was satin, all-white with a big bow. They had hung up white, gauzy ribbons and pink and white balloons and had some Xerox pictures of her put here and there in the flowers. There were lots of very beautiful floral arrangements.  It was one of the hardest things I’ve had to do when it was time for me to go look at her lying in her casket. I’m not trying to make this letter really sad but I know you will all understand how precious this (and all) little baby was. She was fortunate to belong to a very, very large family.  There were hundreds of people at the church to offer love and support. Yesterday the dynamics of the cultural hall shifted and changed as people came and went. Hymns were sung, words spoken and love was shared along with many tears.  I’m so very proud of Jocelyn. She wanted to speak at the funeral today and she did an awesome job. She was a pillar of strength even though I understood her to say she had no strength any longer. Dad says that she spoke of knowing that their daughter would be taken someday. She was just totally surprised that it happened so soon and so quickly. She understood that Emily had fulfilled her purpose and she was too good to have to spend any more time on this earth and be contaminated from it.  Yes, she broke down many times and cried into many a shoulders saying “Mi nina, mi princesa,,,,”   She spoke of her arm always reaching out for her baby and now it falls empty to her side. (I’m remembering it as I understood it)  I can still see the tears on her cheeks as she spoke from the pulpit. They honestly looked like diamonds sparkling. She wore a white dress and looked heavenly.  Maybe someday I will be able to tell her how proud I was of her and how she looked like a true mother in Zion, enduring hardship and being refined from it.  I would tell her that someday her children could be as numerous as her tears were these past few days.  But there is much work to do first….like getting them to the temple and sealed forever.  They are both active in the church and he is a return missionary.

People always procrastinate and none of us really sees the beginning from the end of life. We don’t know how long or short life will be. But we do know what is most important.  FAMILY.  That is what it boils down to. FAMILY.  We think there are so many things in this life but if you don’t have someone to share it with then it’s nothing. Not now or in the eternities. When I was young I used to worry about getting to see my father again (he passed when I was 7 yrs old) and my brothers and sisters and living together in heaven. Later, it got a bit more complicated when I my mother remarried and I gained a step-dad and also step (and half) brothers and sisters. Then when your Dad and I began our own family all I wanted was to have our 5 children in heaven with us. Now we have an additional 5 (may I mention they are all fantastic?) kid-in-laws (& their families whom we consider family too) 10+ grandbabies and of course more to come J  So, in our ‘older’ age we are seeing a bigger picture of eternity.  It doesn’t matter too much what type of family we have at the moment because it will always be changing. As long as we are with family we will be happy. I love Heavenly Fathers plan of happiness. I love being a representative of Jesus Christ and sharing the good news of the restored gospel. Of course I don’t always do it very well in Spanish.  I have had to learn better how to communicate through the spirit and right to the heart since I don’t have the words for it.  I really love these people here in Chile. I know I would love the people anywhere we were called to serve, because the love comes from the Holy Ghost who is my constant companion. 

Well time to sign off.  This was much easier to type than it would have been to write it in long-hand as they did back in the olden days. Have you guys started teaching our grand-children about the ‘olden days’? Do they know about hard work? (Like hauling buckets of water (or rocks or you name it) all over the place?) Do you share your testimonies with them? Don’t leave it up to the primary or Sunday school classes or it won’t happen! One thing that never changes is the Gospel so please be sure and instill this precious gift in them while they are young. They will need every bit of spiritual strength they have to have peace and live in a world where so much wickedness abounds. I hope you can feel our love and prayers are with you constantly. We feel yours! 

Sincerely and with much love!

Mama, Schramma, Paw Shaw etc

PS- have you taught them our secret family handshake (squeeze) yet?  Hint: Do you love me?

Earthquakes

An Email from Schramma (Sister Schramm): 

dear fam....

We had only been home for about 2 min (around 9pm) last night when the towns alarms went off. Then the police drove around w/ loud speakers telling all to evacuate.

I could hardly believe it.  We just grabbed our coats and computers and got in the truck and headed for higher ground. We spent time helping get others get situated to higher ground. Then we tried to sleep in the truck until we could go back home (2am'ish) after the hours of danger had passed.  Learned a pretty good lesson thru it all---  I felt like Lots wife because I could see my house down below and just wanted to return and go to bed. There was no visible danger and after listening to the radio reports we knew the big waves would not come this time---  thank-goodness.  It was a very long day but kinda exciting too.

We did not feel the earthquake and it was a calm night so hard to believe. Also not having TV etc--it is surprising when you hear news delivered thru a siren and neighbors etc.  I talked to a neighbor for a min. and could tell she was in 'shock' over it. Even here where they are used to earthquakes they don't often have to evacuate.  Only the parts of town down low near the beaches had to leave for high ground.

Monday (zone conf) the pres. spent some good time covering emergency preparedness in these types of situations. We even and 2 mock scenarios. For the future I will pack a little bag of cloths and snacks and remember water. I barely had time to dump my home-making stuff from my back-pack and put in my computer stuff. No time to think about choosing a pair of pants or crackers etc.  Then dad was honking and I forgot to lock the door (did lock the gate) but we had a good spot to watch over our house....  prob write more on our blog soon!

Tks for all your prayers and calls etc.  Lots of people here did the same and made sure we knew to leave :)

lovies, mama

An Email from Schrammpa (Elder Schramm): 

Email exchange  w/ Tom Saldivar, another missionary couple who are serving about a hundred miles north of us in Monte Patria.

April 4, 2014

Buenos Dias,

How you doing?? Did you feel the shaker this morning around 7AM.  We were just waking up and talking about removing those warm blankets when the windows started rattling then the house started to move.. we jumped out of the sack and grabbed our robes and shoes and went outside.

It was a 5.2 epicenter was in Salamanca..
 

 Check out these stats on seismic activity in Chile... as of two days ago..

Chile has had: (M1.5 or greater)

·       47 earthquakes today

·       68 earthquakes in the past 7 days

·       154 earthquakes in the past month

·       362 earthquakes in the past year

Did you know that there are more earthquakes in Chile than any place else on earth... fun place to live.

We decided we better get a "go kit" ready and keep it by the door.  Water, granola bars,  nuts & raisins, canned fruit, TP, a few pesos... maybe a pair of sox and clean underware...the last item is crucial,  especially if the quake was bad enough to merit using the go kit,  I probably would have messed my pants !!

Take care... mostly just wanted to say "hi"

To Tom:

Ha ha ha.  We updated our go-kit  to include underware after  our  first tsunami evacuation when the 8.3 Iquique quake hit tuesday.  Then we used it the next night on wed. for the 7.9 Iquique aftershock, when we again  had to  evacuate to high ground  Then we had the 7 a.m. shaker (the next morning?) and later that night around midnight we had a real shaker that lasted a long time.  We heard it and woke up before we  felt it.  It sounded like distant thunder rumbling and coming closer and closer and  then the whole house started shaking when  it arrived,  probably for at least 30 seconds.  

Its really amazing how  fast the news reports these things.  The last two we've turned on the radio to see where the epicenter was, to get an idea if there is a tsunami/evacuation threat.  They are literally reporting the location and intensity and everything else  you can think of  within 30 seconds... who felt what itensity, who lost power and who did not, etc..

Sea Monster Mystery!

I have many more photos, but this is enough to tell the story of these strange tracks we came upon, on a deserted section of beach.

These huge claw sets of tracks came out of the ocean.  The were in sets of 4 and about 10 feet apart.  The tracks were pointing perpendicular to the direction of travel.

The came out of the ocean, went down the beach for 30 or 50 yards or so, and then went right back into the ocean.  There were no drag marks like a turtle or sea lion would make.  And the thing was very heavy, judging by how the sand was pushed in the tracks.

Anyone know what these are?

  

We have these horses that wander around town without anyone watching over them.  They eat the grass in the parks and plazas, eat trash out of the trash recepticles, seaweed on the beach, etc.   They poop all over the place in the streets and sidewalks and plaza.  Sometimes we see donkeys wandering around too.  Nobody else seems to notice.  I caught this horse raiding the trash around 10 p.m. one night, right on a main busy street.  I thought it was just the many stray dogs scatering the trash all over at night. This horse has the high trash all to himself.

Starfish at low tide holding hands. 

More on Fleas

We had the house fumigated, so now I only get a few flea bites a day from what ever gets on me during the day walking around.  I had hundreds, for a while there, because I'd get 20 - 50 a day and they last and itch FOREVER, and leave scars that I don't know how long they last.  Your Mom seemingly has only had 2 or 3 the whole time we've been here.  The exterminator guy tells me its because I'm allergic to the fleas' anticoagulant they inject when they bit you, to keep the blood flowing, and she is not.  She's probably getting bit too, but doesn't react.  None of the Chileans seem to be bothered by them.  I see lots of stray dogs that are very bothered by them.  You can't walk anywhere without stray dogs coming up to you, and they're lounging around on all the sidwalks and in front of people's businesses and doors, especially on the main streets.   Its real easy for fleas to hop  off a dog and on to a person.  You'd never see it, they're so small and quick.

I don't feel them biting.  But occasionally I think I feel them walking around under my clothes looking for a place to bite. What do you do when you feel that itchy feeling and you're at someone's house in the middle of a discussion?  They get under your clothes and you can never see them they're so quick and small and blend in to dark colors.

The fleas here are very small. I've only seen two.  They really big ones are the size of a pin head.  They're impossible to kill by rubbing them between your fingers and squeezing or slapping them like mosquitos.  But you can stun them by rubbing them real hard between your fingers so they don't jump away real quick, and then you can smash them with one fingernail against the other.  That is the missionary way.

Its already getting cold again, after only a few weeks of cool (not warm) weather.  When the sun is not out, (most of the time here on the coast except for a few weeks in the summer) its like the Lucky Leaf in winter on a cold cloudy windy day.  The only difference is its the same temperature inside your house as outside, so you never get away from the cold.  This morning when we woke up it was 58 deg. inside the house.  Not too bad.  Sometimes it gets real cold inside.

The people here are very strange to us, when it comes to the temperature.  All winter long, they leave the doors to the church wide open and open the windows in the classrooms because its "too hot", or "too stuffy".  Because the wind blows always, and the way the church is designed like an "H",the wind comes screaming in the front door and down all the hallways and out another door.  They like that when its about 45 degrees inside and out, and they bundle up and are happy.

Then, in the peak of summer, like January and Feb, when the church building (all concrete and stone and ceramic tile finish) is just warming up to about 65 deg or so (you'd think they'd be boiling if 45 is hot to them in the winter, right?). But in the summer, they all start complaining about 65 deg. being cold and they turn on the heating system till its about 80 inside, and they still complain about it being cold.  But they still leave the front door wide open (65-70 outside). They will never turn on the heater in the winter no matter how cold it is inside.  "Its not good for your health to have warm air in the winter", and "there is no reason to waste all that gas."  

We have quit trying to close doors and windows to keep the temperature moderate, because within a couple of minutes someone will open them. Its like trying  to stop the tide or the wind.

Imagine the sensory experience of hundreds of these.  They last about 3 weeks.

February 23

23 Feb 2014 Thurs.  Spent the day researching addresses and looking up inactive Elders and prospective Elders.  In the evening I drove to Illapel for district Presidency meeting while Carolyn stayed in Los Vilos.  On the way home, around midnight, I pulled over at the top of the mountain pass to look at the stars.  It was an unusually clear and dark night… dark except for the Milky Way with an unmistakable swath of bright white from horizon to horizon… and except for the trillions of other stars everywhere.  I have not seen a sky like that since camping as a kid in the back country of New Mexico when at that time there was little light pollution and other forms of pollution to block the starlight.  It is absolutely awe inspiring to see the heavens here on dark, clear nights. 

I can only begin to imagine what the view is like a few more hundred miles to the north of Chile, in the high desert where some of the most famous telescopes in the world have the clearest view from anywhere on earth.  That is because they are so high, and the desert there so dry (some places have never recorded any rainfall, ever) that the air is crystal clear, giving great views of the heavens. Wowzer.  

Ben and I once stopped in the Wyoming desert around 2 a.m. on our way to Utah, to look at the stars in the dark sky there. (Maybe it was Calvin.  No matter.  One of them can witness that it was a great sight that they will probably remember for a long time.)  Anyway, the difference between the dark sky here and that, is like the difference between the Charlotte NC sky and Wyoming.  (In Charlotte, there is so much humidity and light pollution that you only see a few of the brightest stars).  

Awesome.