I slept okay. I was pretty anxious about the day ahead and probably only really slept a few hours. So far, the day has been...awkward? I think that's probably the best word. We met Agustin and Chelita (who are married and run the entire house) at 5:30am on the dot in the plaza. From there we were individually dropped off in our sections for the day. I was sent to Grandes A which houses the girls in our equivalent of sixth grade. They were cleaning and getting dressed when I arrived. I tried mainly to stay out of their way, quietly introducing myself to the chicas here and there. In total, there were 30 girls in the room. Their morning routine consists of showering, getting dressed, making their bed, and washing the floor. This room is huge: think the size of a small gym. Bunk beds are stacked in threes and lockers against the walls separate the bunk beds from each other. Each girl has her own bunk and locker. In addition, towards the front are several couches grouped together to make a small sala or sitting room. Once the girls were ready, we headed to desayuno (first breakfast) where a couple of girls took pity on me and walked me through the routine. After desayuno, we all headed back for them to grab their school stuff and I walked over to the school with them (which is a part of the compound as well). One of the girls, Leslie, then gave me a brief tour before she headed to class. I barely made it out of the school gates before they were closed and since I had received no further instructions, I headed back to the volunteer quarters to wait for the others. It was a very anxious 30 minutes or so not knowing what or where I was suppose to be, but finally the others started trickling in and I cobbled together the fact that next I needed to be at almuerzo (second breakfast) to help serve which gave me about 2 hours of descanso (break time). Suddenly overcome by fatigue, I took a nap. Which was too short. :-P I reported for serving duty, spent a little more time with the girls, and then came back to volunteer central again to wait until the girls finished school for the day at which point I will be with them pretty constantly the rest of the afternoon. (written yesterday during my second break)
Okay, so the rest of yesterday went pretty well. I met the girls at their room after school let out. They changed and we all headed to comida or lunch which is by far the biggest and most important meal of the day. Desayuno consists only of a large, thick dinner roll and cup of milk while almuerzo is a small portion of hot food and milk. Almuerzo yesterday was rice, cactus, tomato, onion, tortillas, and water. Back to the room to collect homework materials which was started in the room and continued in el comedor (the cafeteria). I was able to get to know a few of the girls better during this time. Chores followed homework. The girls headed over to the school to rake and clean up the various natural areas surrounding the school buildings. We had a little free time and then it was running time. Running time is when all the girls go for a run around the complex and it is their main exercise each day. The girls run in all kinds of different outfits that in the States we would not consider appropriate attire like flip flops and jeans.
I did not participate in running time yesterday, but instead chose to attend Life Teen, the youth group here, which meets every Wednesday during running time. That was an interesting experience too. It's only open to the secundaria ages, the equivalent of our 7th through 9th grade and for the most part only girls come to skip running. We started with a few songs with the help of a few male musicians who left after the singing was over. After songs came introductions for the new volunteers (Monika and I were the ones who attended), a bible reading, and prayer. Teresa has been running the group since she's been here and it's pretty loose format. She's been keeping it light since most of the girls come only to skip exercising and we could tell that a lot of the girls don't take it too seriously. Monika and I both decided we'd really like to help out. I honestly didn't think I'd be interested in getting involved with anything like this while I was here, but I think it will be a good departure from the day to day and help me to get to know other ages in the house as well as share some of my faith journey and experience with the girls.
After Life Teen, was cena or dinner, another small meal of beans and fried tortillas stuffed with meat and milk. Then it was back to the room to shower and get ready for bed. After showers, was reading time which was another good time to talk with a few of the girls and get to know them better. They were very sweet about helping me with my Spanish and we talked about a lot of different things. After reading, bed and I finally said good night. It was only my first day, and already I was extremely attached to this group! That seems to be a common consensus among the volunteers. Our first groups might very well turn out to be our section for the year, but we still have five more days and five more sections to go through so all bets are off!
Here's my schedule from yesterday:
5:00am - up and dressed
5:30am - meet Agustin and Chelita, taken to section, girls showering and cleaning
6:30am - desayuno
7:00am - school, I took a nap
10:00am - help set up almuerzo
10:30am - almuerzo
11:00am - school/my break
1:30pm - meet girls back at section
2:00pm - comida
~2:30pm - tarea (homework)
~4:00pm - chores
5:30pm - running time/Life Teen
6:30pm - cena
7:00pm - reading time/get ready for bed
8:00pm - lights out
Pretty structured day, no? But with so many kids and so few authority figures per child, it's necessary to keep the house running affectively. Sorry for all text. Not too many photos right now. I'll take more soon!
