Lessons in Man

Q: What is manly?
A: Chest hair, Rambo movies 1, 3 and 4, and melting one piece of metal to another.
That’s right, I know how to weld! I was taught by the world famous Harrison, and excellent gentleman and welding expert. Welding is in fact one of the manliest things that one can do, besides applying chapstick in secret. It all starts with cold hard metal, then add one dose of awesome and the metal is together. Using an electrode to generate an electric current that will melt the two pieces together. Myself and 5 girls learned how to do this because we are going to Palora, Ecuador tomorrow and will be doing some construction. In case anyone is unfamiliar with local Ecuadorian geography, Palora is in the Amazon. As in the Amazon jungle, as in that videogame that every child played in the mid 90’s. The one that was not quite as good as the Oregon trail.
Next question- What is both manly yet defies traditional gender roles?
Answer- A me.
When we went on the tour of the seminary, they showed us these fancy new clothes washing machines. They kind of look like a big sink, which is because they are. I washed my own clothes…wait for it…by hand! Sweet! After about 10 minutes of scrubbing my clothes with an oversized detergent bar, my hands were in pain. Still my clothes are hanging up outside. I brought my underwear in my room after hearing several laughs throughout the day though. I understand Spanish laughter pretty well.
Other slightly less manly things:
Being a little sad when your roommate goes home for a few days. I refuse to tell anyone that I am lonely at night now, because it sounds weird. Besides, I am not lonely anyway.
Hearing the dogs bark and wanting to go rush to pet them all. I do not understand many things, including how I can watch a movie like 300 and see endless men killed brutally. But when you turn on Air Bud, I bite my tongue in order to not cry. Isn’t this true for most people. If I see a man die, I think, “How unfortunate”. But when I watched Bambi, I cried like a baby…I mean, I was unaffected emotionally…and it made me hungry.