It's my Birthday and I'll Get Soaked if I Want To... (3/22)

I feel I owe you all an immediate description of my actual birthday festivities given the overwhelming amount of love I've been receiving via mail (which has all the other volunteers extremely jealous by the way :-D).  The birthday tradition here at Casa San Salvador is to toss the birthday person in as many bodies of water as possible.  I approached my birthday therefore with a bit of trepidation and pre-planning.  My girls, through various conversations during my time here, knew very well when my birthday was and so Monday was spent receiving threats of forced fountain baths to happen the next day.  Wesleigh helped guarantee that my girls remembered the importance of the day by greeting me first thing while surrounded by my girls with "Happy Birthday" which my girls responded to with evil smiles.  During desayuno (at 6:30am) I negotiated my way out of an early dunking by arguing it was too cold and almuerzo passed uneventfully because of the short time span they had before returning to school.

I purposely delayed changing into my white playera for the day knowing what was coming and I began to feel the nerves during comida.  I kept catching furtive glances my way and hidden conversations behind hands.  As we were leaving the comedor, a few of my girls subtly (yeah right) detoured me to wait in the patio before heading back to the section.  As I humored them with forced small talk I was surprised from behind by Lupita with the hose and so had my first soaking of the day.  They then escorted me to the room, but the girls there weren't ready yet so I was walked away from the section before being attacked once again from behind.  Three girls, each with their own bucket full of water, attacked at that point.  Paloma was walking with me providing the diversion part of the job and was therefore decently drenched herself.  Her yells of "It's not my birthday!" did nothing to help redirect the bucket throws. :-P

I wanted to change after this episode thinking it was over, but some of my girls jokingly said there was more to come.  Not wanting to risk it, I sat outside the room for about an hour in my soaking clothes shivering slightly and helping those who were brave enough to risk my puddle with homework.  Finally I decided it was time and changed into my white playera and khaki shorts.  The rest of the afternoon was uneventful until after English class when Monika (the volunteer) pushed me in the pool.  I felt so stupid when it happened because with anyone else I would have been suspicious, but we were just walking together chatting and she sort of aimed me in that direction where Dan was swimming laps so I thought we were going to say hi or something and suddenly I'm in the pool.  I changed again and headed to dinner.  (I had just done laundry Monday, but the clothes line was starting to look like I'd had to do it all over again.)

After dinner, while the girls were saying their prayers I closed my eyes briefly on the couch (I was pretty tired) when suddenly I was startled back into reality by a circle of my girls singing Las Mananitas, the traditional birthday song here.  It's really beautiful and a lot more involved than our birthday song.  It was the first time I had heard it all the way through and I was really moved that they sang it for me.  The birthday celebration didn't end there either!

Once I got back to volunteer central, we had pizza from a great local place and my strawberry birthday cake complete with candles (thanks Mom!).  Wesleigh had really gone all out and had spent several hours trying to figure out how to bake the cake with our limited supplies here as well as organize the food with the others.  I received several very sweet notes from them and even a sleeve of Thin Mint Girl Scout cookies from Andrew (a true prize given his limited supply).  All in all, I felt truly loved all day long and had a great birthday.  The overwhelming love and support from you all at home really put things over the top.  I don't think I have enough space in my room for all these beautiful cards and notes of support!  Thank you everyone, once again, for making this birthday so special!  You have no idea how much it means to me.

Wedding! (3/18-20)

My descanso started off on a rather sobering note given that final conversation Thursday night, but I still had a good time.  Friday was filled with shopping: I bought a new dress for the wedding and stocked up on some more pirated DVDs.  (I was made for this country; movies are so cheap, about 70 cents each cheap, and I can easily fulfill my addiction.)  That night, the other volunteers and I headed out on the town.  I was pretty tired so I called it a night before most of the others.

Saturday!  Saturday was awesome.  Our previous volunteer coordinator (who also has about ten other jobs with NPH and was a volunteer herself) got married and we were all invited to attend!  Most of us enthusiastically responded and so Dan, Teresa, Andrew, Monika, Jeremy, Wesleigh, and I all trooped to Tepotzlan that day to join in the festivities.  It was such a gorgeous wedding!  The bride was American and the groom Mexican so the wedding was a really neat composite of the two traditions.  The ceremony itself was held in a tiny chapel in the middle of town and was done in both English and Spanish.

The bride being escorted in by her father.  The aisle was filled with petals.  A deep purple was the accent color for the flowers and bridesmaids dresses which you can see in Daniela's bouquet.

The bride being handed off.  Daniela's dress was beautiful and she looked so happy!

The reception was held at a great location at the base of the mountains surrounding Tepotzlan.  Tepotzlan is famous for the Mayan temple located at the top of these mountains which visitors can hike up to see.  (I tried to visit early in my time here.) We were constantly impressed by the dramatic landscape.  Once again, the festivities were a great combo of Mexican and American traditions.  Open bar, father/daughter dance, chinelo dance, maid of honor speech in English, best man speech in Spanish, mix of Spanish and English music, Mexican food, etc. Bottom line, a great time!

Monika, me, and Wesleigh trying to give you an idea of what we were seeing.

The reception eating area.  Again, the deep purple accents.  The volunteers all had a table together.

The happy couple driving up to the party.  Nice car right?  (I included this picture for you, Dad.  Like? ;-)

The upper tier of the reception site.  A second bar was up here a long with cocktail tables.

Me, Teresa, Monika, and Wesleigh at our table.  It was the first time we all had a day of descanso together since coming to Miacatlan.  Our table was strategically located right next to the dessert table.  Thank you Daniela!

We had a great time.  Like I said above, it was the first time all the volunteers had the same day off (in honor of the wedding) and it was great to just hang out and have fun with everyone away from Miacatlan.  Because of Daniela's history with NPH, there were a lot of ex-volunteers there who we got to meet and talk with (notably Tommy again and Ryan Highland who was here for four years) as well as some of the staff from the house.  We stuffed ourselves with great food, enjoyed good drinks, and danced the night away.  It was a literal ten hour party!  Thankfully, we found rides back to Cuernavaca and so were able to stay in the volunteer housing that night as opposed to finding a room in Tepotzlan.  Sunday was mostly spent sleeping.  I felt so privileged to have been a part of the celebration and had so much fun!  Such a gorgeous wedding in every way possible.

New Friends and Difficult Conversations (3/14-17)

March 14th through the 17 (Monday through Thursday) was also a pretty normal week.  The most unusual thing was hosting a huge group of high school students staying at the house.  They were visiting from Phoenix during their Spring Break and stayed Sunday through Saturday.  Their main chaperone was Jim who I was finally able to meet.  For those of you who don't know, Jim is the deacon of the church my family attends in Phoenix and is a long time supporter of NPH.  I learned about NPH and applied here because of that connection and Jim was kind enough to talk to me a few times throughout the application process about NPH and what to expect here.  I was very excited to finally put a face to the voice.  Another chaperone with the group was Tommy.  Tommy turned out to be doubly connected to me as well: not only did he volunteer at NPH for a year and half, but he also went to school with my cousins in Phoenix.  Small world, right?   I love finding these crazy connections.

We had our first official volunteer meeting on Wednesday with Marinay, the new volunteer coordinator.  And yes, this is huge news.  I didn't realize just how great it was to have a volunteer coordinator here until that meeting.  She's already making life so much easier!  Tommy ended up crashing to give us some feedback on his volunteer experience as well as helpful advice for the rest of our time here.

Thursday night was a hard night for me.  One of my favorite girls was punished for something by running laps around the front lawn and when she got back she told me she'd been thinking about how easy it would be to just leave the house.  This resulted in a pretty long conversation over the course of which I learned a lot more about her background before coming to here.  She's been a part of the house for about 7 years now and has family (extended) relatively close by.  She never mentioned a mother, but said her father was a drunk and stated that one of the good parts of NPH was that she had plenty to eat which suggests neglect on the father's part.  At the time, I think I successfully talked her out of doing anything rash, but I was really worried I would come back after my descanso to find her gone.  Thankfully, that did not happen and I cannot tell you how relieved I was to see her Monday morning.  This is one of those girls who if she did leave, I'm not sure I could stay myself.  Definitely a scary yet necessary conversation to have with her if she was at all considering leaving.  It's easy sometimes to forget that most of the kids here have these kinds of histories and it's important to keep that in mind when reacting to different behaviors.  I'm sorry to say, her story is also one of the more tame ones here.  The vastness of this and my inability to relate is overwhelming at times, but it also helps keep things in perspective.  All I can do is give as much love and patience and time as I can and hope it's enough for now!

!Muchas Gracias!

Just wanted to say thank you for all the presents, cards, well wishes, and kind thoughts on my birthday yesterday!  It always means so much to hear from you at home and it helps remind me that this blog is more than a one-way conversation.  Yesterday was a really special birthday thanks in large part to you all.  Huge hugs all around! (Any suggestions on where to buy a good walking cane?  These years keep adding up for some reason... :-P)

Water and Fire (3/11-13)

Friday the Chapel Hill group packed up and headed back to the States.  It was fun having them around and a little stressful too.  Whitney basically took charge of most things.  I was the go-to girl for meal time organization and when Whitney wasn't around.  It was interesting being in charge of making sure someone else could find their way around here, and I don't just mean literally.  I definitely learned a lot about how far I have really come in the past two months of my time here and how much I do really know about place.  Hopefully everyone left with great memories!

The Chapel Hill group from L to R: Christy, Matt, Rob, Jenn, Katherine, Shania, and Whitney

Another new responsibility that has just come up recently is cleaning the comedor after almuerzo.  It really doesn't take that long, cleaning here is quite the science, but it cuts out another 30 minutes of my break time.  Losing a lot of that lately!

Friday some of my girls helped us clean as a form of punishment.  You can see the puddle of soapy water on the floor that Ruth is pushing out the door using a large floor wiper.  They use this method of cleaning for practically everything and for the surfaces here it is very effective.

As Lent had started this week, all the sections were required to visit the Stations of the Cross at the church before mass.  The Stations of the Cross here are rather unique:  all but four are outside the front before entering the chapel in a large circle.  Two are inside the church itself and two more are in small gardens on the other side.  It's very pretty and a moving way of experiencing the stations.  A few of the more unique ones: Station 11, the crucifixion, is directly below the crucifix in the church and in front of the Eucharist; Station 14, when Christ is entombed, is in a small catacomb off the main chapel and literally like being in a tomb; Station 15, the Resurrection, is outside in a small garden with a small empty catacomb at one side and a beautiful statue of Jesus standing in the middle of the garden reaching out to you.  All in all, a pretty powerful display.

That night, the section played soccer for about an hour and half.  This is such a job, both because I love soccer so much and any excuse to play and I love sharing this joy with my girls.  I've recently realized how fortuitous it is that I chose this descanso.  I share work weekends with Ochoa as the year of service kids have a very similar work and descanso schedule as us.  She is the more reserved of the two encargadas in our section, but by sharing work weekends with her I get to play soccer more because she loves to play as well and get to know her better through time and a shared love of soccer.  She prefers offense, I prefer defense and we're always on opposing teams so quite often we're battling it out on the field.  Good times!

Me, taking a break from the game.  My team won A LOT of games in a row which meant we kept playing, but finally we lost one and I got to rest. ;-) Briefly.

Saturday was such a fun day.  It started with chores and lice checking (not so much fun) and then activity time started with water games.  This meant a range of activities, from a simple water balloon toss to soaking the soccer field and turning it into a giant puddle just for the fun of it.  I had a pretty good time chasing kids and getting soaked.

A video that shows a little bit of how lice-checking works.  Yes, that's me, looking through one of my girl's hair for possible bugs.  Thankfully, once again, none of my repasos actually had lice.

The water balloon toss.  Take special note of the little boy who saunters through the middle of the action towards the end of the video.  That's Enrique Iglesias (or at least he likes to add that last part in introductions) and he's just one big ball of love.

One of the boys from chicos section.  We became fast friends when I defended his drawing against peer criticism the week prior.  We had a good time at the balloon toss and then chasing each other around the newly renovated soccer field.

Another of my English students from Grandes B.  He's modeling the results of one of the other activities offered.  I think the white stuff is flour.

The soccer field in all its wet glory!  There were actually some pretty deep sections.  You can imagine the chaos: wrestling, grass fights, running, soccer, football, good times.

Enjoying the other highlight of the morning: mangoes and oranges covered in salsa.

After the morning activities the kids headed to lunch completely soaked and then left for the pool.  Pool time is different here.  Swimsuits are more of a suggestion than a requirement.  Kids swim in just about anything: regular clothes, pajamas, underwear, some swimsuits, and any combination thereof.  It's quite the fashion show.  I didn't actually jump in as I had already changed out of my wet clothes, but I had fun watching the action.

Enjoying the pool.  The girls are in my section and the little boy is the girl on the right's youngest brother.

That night everyone headed over to the boys' area for a huge bonfire.  Entertainment included marshmallows, a photo slide show from the past year, and lighting things on fire.  As you can see in the photo below (right side), the boys were highly successful at starting other, non-regulated fires.  I stamped out a few, but they were persistent in their efforts.  Thankfully, we all left the event fairly un-singed and with the house still intact.

Another sibling family here at the home.  The one on the right is in my section and her sister is in terceros, the oldest girl group.  They are so sweet with each other and spend time together whenever they can.

So, bad news, my camera's on the fritz so my photos from Sunday are currently unavailable.  The day consisted of several scavenger hunt type activities: rey pide which requires a huge list of items to be found in the section and preguntas (questions) which is exactly what it sounds like, a list of questions to answer.  Other than that, pretty calm day.



Sweep Team and Other Shenanigans (3/7-10)

Monday night was another fun round of games that had us yelling and screaming in the court outside our dorm.  Wesleigh asked me later what all the screaming was about.  We were clearly audible in every corner of the compound!

The girls during Revolution, a game with two teams on opposite sides of the court.  Each player gets a label that corresponds to someone on the opposite side.  The object is not to be the last to find your partner.  Not the most advanced game, but a lot of fun.

Wednesday was Ash Wednesday so all the kids (and staff and volunteers) started the day off right with mass right after breakfast before heading to school.  My ashes were kind of spread completely across my forehead and perfectly highlighted my scar which was an interesting feature.  It was such a fast mass!  And it caught me completely off guard as I thought Lent wasn't supposed to start until the following week.  Oh well. Welcome to Lent!

Also Wednesday, the boys' soccer teams both had games against the teams from town.  I'm still not completely sure how the soccer teams are organized here, but from what I could gather there are two levels, primary and secondary, and possibly two teams in each level.  Not sure about that last part.  Anyway, they play official games whenever a team travels through town or the local teams want to play.  I got to watch a good bit of both games, but had to leave early for my English class.  A few of my girls watched with me.

I brought my sunglasses in order to see better, but my girls decided they were put to better use as a fashion accessory in their model photos.  It's only one photo of many.

One of my girls, is the player in the middle.  Both teams were short a player so she was asked to fill in for both teams.  I was so proud!  She's a really good player and it was fun to see her in action outside of our pick up games.

Four of my girls, watching the game and cheering on their friend.

Thursday began the slow sad end to my beautiful breaks during the day.  Wesleigh and I had so far been able to successfully avoid normal sweep team by getting up at 4:30am once a week every other week for novios.  Now, the house has mandated that novios are no more, aka romantic relationships are completely banded so the novio shift no longer exists and therefore no longer need our supervision.  So Thursday, promptly at 7:45, Wesleigh and I showed up at the primary school to start our first real sweep team shift. 

All the staff and year of service kids are organized into sweep teams which after all the kids have left for school (about 7:45 or 8) we each have a specific spot around the house and school to sweep.  Each week, the teams rotate their sweep spots until each team has swept the whole house and the rotation starts again.  There is no custodial staff here; the concept (and money) does not exist so we provide the custodial services.  Really, the kids themselves are the true force that keeps the place clean which makes sweep team less enjoyable.  It's hard to put much effort and heart into a job that you know will be repeated at least once more that day by the kids, but we all do it because we're told to.  Haha!  Not a very happy response or reason, I'll admit, but it's just another part of life here that I need to accept. Yay sweep team!

The girls lined up for prayer before comida on Thursday.  They prayer before and after each meal as well as before school and bed as a group.

Our delicious fish again!  Not sure how they were kept fresh for a week, but they tasted great. ;-)

Me later that night pumping out more drawings.  I'm drawing the Virgencita sitting on the couch.  Look at that beautiful use of my drawing pad, sent courtesy of my parents.  Thanks again parents!

Two Months!

Quick announcement: yesterday (3/10) marked the eighth week anniversary of my latest expedition to Mexico.  Crazy!  I can't believe I've already been here eight weeks! Eeek!  Okay, announcement over.

A Little Taste of Home (3/4-6)

My descanso weekend was only partly a weekend off.  I fully enjoyed my freedom Friday by sleeping late, eating food outside of the house, doing a lot of shopping in Cuerna with Teresa, and going out for beers (with no curfew) that night.  Saturday I slept LATE for the first time since I've been in Mexico.  It was the first time I had a room to myself, had no commitments until late, and was not bothered by people walking in and out.  Bliss!  Not too long after I woke up, I met Whitney (the other Chapel Hill grad here who's volunteering in Cuerna) and we headed to the airport in Mexico City to meet the visiting crew.  The drive is about a little over an hour from Cuernavaca. It was a bit of a trip down memory lane for me as our driver was the same driver who picked me up when I first arrived in Mexico, Arturo.  Arturo brought his five year old son with us and he made a very cute addition to the welcoming party.

Desafortunadamente, the group's flight from Texas was delayed an hour, but finally they walked through the gate.  A little explanation on the group: these were friends of Whitney's from a Christian organization she had been a part of during her undergrad at Chapel Hill.  There were six visitors in total, a married couple Rob and Jenn, and four students, Shania, Katherine, Christy, and Matt.  They also had two large presents for me in the form of two duffel bags packed to the gills with things from home.  Among the goodies: Reese's (which doesn't exist in Mexico), dark chocolate (which is hard to find in Mexico), my soccer cleats, P90X, and a special surprise of strawberry cake mix and icing for my birthday cake.  It was like a late Christmas and an early birthday all in one!

Anyway, back to Saturday. Introductions were exchanged and we loaded up the van.  On our way out of Mexico City we stopped for tacos for dinner, the group's first taste of authentic Mexican food.  It went over pretty well.  We also drove through my first storm here; it started as we were leaving the city and followed us most of the way back to Cuernavaca.  We made it to the Internet in time for the last six minutes of the Duke game (this was the real reason why their delay was so desafortunadamente), but couldn't find the actual game online so instead we lived through the suspense via updated scores.  And we won!  By a lot!  Take that Duke!  So UNC is the official ACC champion.  Yippee!  I stayed for the end of the game, hung out a bit, and then headed back to volunteer central in time to join for more tacos (I just joined, I didn't eat).

Sunday was tour day.  Whitney took the lead on this as I hadn't seen too much of touristy Cuernavaca.  We started at a cute little restaurant for breakfast, headed to the Borda Gardens after that, the Robert Brady Museum, the Cuernavaca Cathedral, and Cortes' Palace.  All were places I had never been before (except for the cathedral) and I enjoyed playing the part of tourist as much as our guests.

One of the views from Cortes' Palace with Matt in the foreground.  The Palace overlooks the Zocolo, or the central plaza of Cuernavaca.

The Palace has been turned into a museum of the region.  Here is the hall of Diego Rivera's mural.  He was commissioned to paint the history of the state of Morelos.

We ate after the Palace and the group did a little shopping in the local market.  The rest then decided to head back to the house for a bit of a break before heading back into the city later.  I had to get back to Miacatlan that night so I went separately.  I made it back to the volunteer house in Cuerna just in time to catch Dan and Andrew and the three of us left together.  We had a dinner of tacos (again :-P) back in Miacatlan and I unpacked all of my beautiful things before calling it a night.

Highlights (2/28-3/3)

The highlights of Feb. 28th through March 3rd:

--> Haircuts were Tuesday.  It was really entertaining to watch as there were about eight different hair dressers in the portico outside the main building surrounded by mounds of hair from all the kids they had moving in and out of their chairs. It was like a holiday or a huge party with sections of pequenos crowded around waiting their turn or admiring their new look.  Or hating their new look depending on the kid. ;-)  I didn't get any pictures, but next hair day I'll make sure to have my camera!

--> The girls also returned on Tuesday.  When I saw my girl for the first time I thought my heart was going to fall out of my chest.  No joke, the world went in slow motion and I felt like I was having an out of body experience as I walked towards her.  My first reaction was shock followed quickly by relief and happiness.  And then anger.  I was so angry at her for putting us through such hell for so long.  Bottom line though, she was safe and unharmed so I have a lot to be grateful for.  Now, her and the other girl who left with her have been sent away for a month of reflection to decide if NPH is really where they need to be.  I'll be anxious for her decision!

--> I've found an engaging method of teaching English using one of the loves of my life - movies.  It keeps the boys' attention, has them listening and reading English the whole time, and is fun for everyone.  I'm not that sure how much they really retain, but at least they're being exposed to correct English pronunciation and use.  Right now I'm teaching a couple small groups of Medianos and Grandes B boys each Monday and Tuesday.  It's a nice break to have boys for a little while.

One of my Monday Grandes B boys.  He can't sit still, but he loves to help me out where he can, packing up my bag and carrying my things for me.

--> Daniela, our current volunteer coordinator, finally made it out to meet with us on Wednesday!  It had been three weeks due to all the International Junta chaos.  I had forgotten how great it was to talk to her and she made me feel better about a lot of things that had been happening.

--> Thursday I felt very official went I went into the school to grab one of my girls.  She had an appointment at the clinic, but needed an encargada in order to leave.  How important did I feel!  So my position does have some clout...

-->  And finally, Thursday we were able to enjoy the fruits of our labor from the previous Saturday.  It was fish for comida!  At first I was a little wary.  It looked like the fish had just been tossed in the pot as they were when we left them last time, but in reality they were all delicious!  A little creepy to look at at first, but you soon got over that with the deliciousness filling your mouth.  Above: two of girls, making friends with their food.

One of my favorite mugs for coffee, the nectar of the gods which helps me get through the day.  This mug in particular reminds me of home and provides an extra level of comfort from the association.  My mom really likes this type of shape for her coffee mugs too.



During homework time on Thursday.  Obviously she is being very productive!  These are the kind of tables used to serve in the comedor.  Food goes on top, dishes on the bottom.

Awww! What sweet little angels!  (They are totally posing for this picture.)

Just another peek at the night life here.  The girls were just back from dinner.  Every night they move their beds out from the wall to the center of the room to sleep and move them back to the wall in the morning.  They say "Te queremos" a lot in this video; it means "We love you."  Also, you'll notice Ana sitting on the couch.  She's the other encargada in our section.  This was my last night in the section before my weekend descanso.  And I was pretty excited about it!  Sleep is important you know...

Helping Hands (2/27)

Sunday was unusual because we took the kids into the pueblo for mass instead of having mass at the chapel here.  This was highly unusual and the first time all the kids had left the house to head into town.  We were quite a sight to behold as we walked through the streets to the church.  All of the primary grades from chicos up to Grandes A trooped outside for noon mass.  And it was hot!  The place was already pretty full before we even got there so we had to split the kids up and squeeze them in where we could find space.  I ended up in a corner sitting on the wall.  This was a good thing because I quickly became dehydrated and dizzy and had to leave to find a cooler area.  My first mass in Mexico almost three years ago now (wow, how time flies) I came so close to blacking out that I had to buy my water sitting down.  You'd think I would have learned from the experience and brought water with me, but I guess I just need to be hit over the head with the concept a few times before I can let it sink in.

I wasn't the only one having problems though.  All the kids were pretty desperate for something to drink by the time mass was over, but thankfully we all made it back safe and have learned from the experience.  Next time, agua for everyone!

One of my girls posing at the clinic.  The two of us spent a good deal of time there in the afternoon.  She cut her foot pretty badly during activity time, but being one of the more active girls, she didn't let it keep her down for long!

The rest of the day I spent thoroughly cleaning our sala as we had been informed we were hosting a party in there that night and then rejoining my section in time for their chore time as well.  Blanche, one of the directors, came to our section to have a special talk with the girls surrounding recent events and I was pretty impressed with what she had to say.  Some of the highlights: they are truly loved here, but it is hard for three encargadas to know exactly how each of thirty girls is feeling. This places more responsibility on their shoulders to speak up when they are feeling upset or angry or lonely instead of bottling it up and deciding that leaving is the only solution.

My entire section holding hands in a continuous line after cena.  This exercise was meant to show how interconnected and important each girl is to the family and each other.  I think they got the point.



After Blanche left the girls headed to bed and I finally got to talk to Mom and Dad!  It had been a while and it was so great to talk things over here with them.  I then joined the birthday party in honor of Blanche in our sala.  We had some incredible tacos and a delicious cake!  Cake was followed by catch up time with the volunteers who were on descanso.  A lot had been happening and it was great to have them back.  I had missed them so much!  We watched a movie and finally I made myself go to bed.  It was nice to finally have the weekend behind me.

Fish Gutting and Other Fun in the Sun (2/26)

Saturday I got up, got dressed in my playera and khakis and headed to breakfast where I was immediately informed by my girls that they were wearing their nasty clothes because we were going fishing after breakfast!  Okay, I thought, fishing's not that messy.  I can totally handle it in these clothes.  No big deal.

Turns out, my version of fishing and NPH's version of fishing differ slightly.  First off, the boys' version of fishing involves completely draining one of the fish farm lakes and shoveling the fish into baskets.  They were walking around in boots that seemed pretty pointless to me.  Most boys were then taking off the boots to pour out the water which had filled them.

A view of the fish ponds and the newly drained one.  (Tour guide mode.) The fish farm was a project started by a volunteer and enables the kids to eat fish about once a month.  They are fed from the leftovers of the pigs who are in turn fed from the leftovers of the kids therefore creating a reasonably closed cycle.

Secondly, and more importantly, the girls' version of fishing only includes the cleaning part of the traditional fishing procedure.  I was therefore a little surprised to find our fishing a little dirtier than I'd expected.  All the girls from my section up (so secundaria and Grandes A) are required to help.  Each section basically creates its own assembly line with a few girls doing each step: de-scaling, slicing, gutting, and washing.  Fish parts were flying everywhere and ratty clothes were a good idea.

I especially loved the disgusted expressions on some of the girls' faces.  Here's the best one I could capture.

A view of most of the area.  Eventually, someone brought out a stereo and turned into a real party even if a little smelly.

Live action of the assembly line.  Enjoy!

I even joined in and spent about two hours gutting fish myself.  I don't have any photos of me as my hands were black from fish guts and everyone else was in a similar situation.  Sorry!  You'll just have to imagine. ;-)

Needless to say, after fish gutting I almost bolted for the shower and threw my clothes in the laundry.  It was a small load, but I think the sacrifice was worth it to keep the scales from spreading.  Eventually I found my girls in the school yard attacking the trees with rocks, sticks, and shoes in order to get some fruit which is pictured below.  A little dangerous to be near, but hilarious as well.

We spent the afternoon hanging out near the multi-canchas and the pool.  I didn't do much but sit and observe.  I took my role as pillow pretty seriously.

Some of the chico section boys drying out after a swim in the pool.  A lot of the kids just dive in fully clothed so swimsuits are really necessary here.  Welcome to Mexico!



The rest of the night went by in kind of a blur.  Dinner, Beauty and the Beast (:-D, I bought a pirated copy and it's gotten a lot of action), chicharrones, Rebelde, and finally bed for the girls, chill time for me.  And that was Saturday!

Viernes, 25

Friday, the 25th of February, started my weekend working.  Friday itself wasn't too unusual: full of chores, camera action, and movies.

If you look closely you can see two girls standing on the columns taking down the curtains.  Friday was dedicated to cleaning all big things in the room that aren't cleaned on a daily or weekly basis like the curtains, the rug from the sala, and all the cushion covers from the sofa.

This is a video by another of my girls.  It shows the entire room again where girls are doing homework.  Outside you see the girls cleaning the carpet from the sala.  The sweeping technique they are using is how they clean most things here: floors, tables, benches, windows, walls, etc.

Here's what I spend most of my time doing during the week.  As I've said before, I've never drawn this much in my entire life, but I keep at it because it's for the girls.  The pictures range.  Here I'm basically copying the photo.  Copying is really what I'm doing; not much creativity involved.

Me and one of my girls.  She just absolutely loves my camera for both pictures and videos.

That night, the big event was movies in the patio.  They set up two big screens on opposite sides with two different movies that the kids could pick from.  Chicharrones were also provided of course.

One of my girls, and her youngest brother.  A lot of the families here really look after each other and spend as much time together as possible.  Usually this means the weekends as the weekdays are so structured.