Friday was really chill as it was my descanso weekend. I slept a while and ate a lot of good food from town and was on my computer a long time doing various things. End of Friday.
Saturday was the important day. We all had an obligatory work day for the big International Junta, the event the house has been going crazy about for the past two weeks. Everyone got up a little earlier in order to give the place one more scrub over prior to the actual arrival of anyone. After that, the kids showered and changed into their school uniforms in order to look extra special for the day. The encargados were asked to wear their red shirts instead of black so don't be confused by these photos! It was indeed Saturday even without the black playeras. (Yes, I was a little thrown too. :-P)
I love this picture! It's two of my girls, getting ready for the big day. So sweet!
At 9:30am, we all started rounding up the kids and heading over to the school where the big welcoming ceremony and performance was to be held. The show was supposed to start at 10am, but of course that did not happen. So we all had a lot of fun just hanging around taking random photos waiting to be told what to do. Here are some of the better gems from that time.
My girls hanging out at their designated entry point.
No, she and Andrew are not simultaneously scratching their heads. Andrew is attempting to fold his ear, a trick he has that she is attempting to copy. Adorable!
He's too cute and always loves hugs!
The kinder kids, our youngest group here. The little boy in front in the current baby of the house at 3 years old. That's not always the case; NPH does take in infants, but for now he's the littlest! If you think they're cute now, just wait until their performance during the show. ;-)
Eventually, the visitors did arrive and the show started about an hour late. But it was well worth the wait! Here are some videos of the different performances:
This is the opening sequence in which all of the kids participated. If you look closely, you'll see the baby of the house refusing to dance and just huddled in a ball near the front. He was eventually rescued by Rafa, the International Director of NPH Mexico. It's kind of a different performance. Very abstract and artsy. The kids weren't very excited to perform it.
Awww! The sweet conclusion to the opening sequence.
The Three Little Pigs performance was done by chicos and was quite the crowd favorite. Personally, I especially enjoyed Ignacio's narration. Check it out!
NPH Mexico's Children's Choir. A lot of my girls were in this part.
Below is Kinder breaking it down for the crowd. They were dancing to Alvin and the Chipmunks version of "Single Ladies." Too cute!
Silly dance! The Medianos boys and girls are responsible for this act. Very adorable and hilarious!
The older kids performed too, but these were my favorites. There were several musical groups who performed in addition to a couple other dances.
The finale musical performance. They sang a song in English that basically said "Thank you for giving me the opportunity to dream." If you look closely you can see the letters spell out family.
The grand finale! They call it the Chinelo dance, but I'm still unclear as to what the dance really is. They ended with inviting everyone down to join in. Below you see the chaos and fun that developed.
After the show ended, the volunteers were recruited to give tours around the house. Andrew and I ended up with a priest who had lived at the house for a while and knew more about the place than we did and one newbie who had never before visited. It was pretty fun. We learned some things and taught some things. Bought some things. ;-) They had several stands selling different items like T-shirts, key chains, and crafts made by the kids. Late mass and lunch and I was able to slip into the museum to view some NPH history. Not long after it was time for the visitors to leave. Which meant our weekend off was on again!
The old chapel/new museum.
The first pequeno ever!
Dan, Andrew, and I headed to Cuernavaca for the night. We had a lot of fun: ran some errands, ate some tacos, watched a movie, hit a bar, a house party, a club. Up 'til 5am. It was the first time I had left Miacatlan and been on break and it felt great to let loose a little. Sunday was also pretty chill. I was finally able to chat with Lauren on Skype (yippeee!) for 2 hours! We ate some delicious quesadillas, did some hardcore movie shopping, and finally headed back to Miacatlan. It was good to be back, but strange at the same time. I was very happy to see my girls the next morning!
