Sunday was pretty fun. In the morning we filled our time with chores, more TV, and lice hunting. I think the lice hunting takes a little more explanation. Once a week most sections check each other's hair very closely to see if they find any lice. If evidence of lice is found, it is plucked out and destroyed one by one. My first exposure to this practice was while I was with the Chicas section when suddenly I had little girls coming up to me asking me to check them. I didn't understand what they were talking about really, but they gestured to their hair and so I kind of flipped it around a bit and put it back up. Later, I saw one of the other encargadas checking a girl's hair and I figured out what was going on.
I was unaware that my section did this as well until Sunday since it was my first work weekend with my girls. The process is a long one; the hair is carefully parted little by little so that by the end most of the scalp has been exposed for checking. For some girls this takes an hour if they actually have lice and for others about 10 minutes. I was ignored for the first wave of checks, but eventually was requested by about five girls in a row. I looked very carefully even though I have never had lice and did not actually know what to look for; thankfully nothing unusual popped up for me to kill. All in all, yet another interesting experience to repeat every other weekend!
In the morning we also had a brief activity period spent searching the school for clothing. It was like an Easter egg hung except instead of eggs we were looking for small plastic bags containing shirts. Comida, TV, and then I headed off to help prepare the afternoon activity. The photos below are the fruits of our efforts. I was put in charge of the 3-legged race with Dan. We made it a little more complicated with some obstacles and the kids seemed to have fun. There were a few other activities, but it all basically degenerated after a while into kids milling around playing whatever they felt like. Lots of fun and lots of photos!
Notice the fallen pair behind these two. The younger kids didn't always catch on to the teamwork element of this activity.
Me with two girls from Grandes B, the group just younger than my girls.
One of my more cuddlesome responsibilities.
Teresa, with one her boys. Remember this face! He becomes better known to me the next day and is not as innocent as he looks. :-D
Dan, my partner-in-crime, with a couple of Tercercos girls, the oldest age group, and one from Chicas. All the girls love Dan!
After activities, more aseos and TV then cena back on the patio. There were about 9 different types of food stations to visit and a very carnival-esque atmosphere to it all. A fun way to chow down. We were pretty quick to bed after cena. I spent a little time bonding with one of the encargadas over Hitch which was playing on TV and then I headed back to my house. It was a pretty big night for the volunteers. All of us (with the exception of Martina) headed out for a beer in town. It was the first time so many of us had been able to do that since arriving in Miacatlan. And it's such a great crowd. I'm really lucky to have such a diverse and strong support system here!
