Spring Break Part 2 (4/25-27)

Let me preface this blog post by saying again, sorry for the delay in posts.  My computer crashed about three weeks ago and the volunteer computer isn't quite as accessible or capable with doing what I need to do for the blog.  Trying my best!

Anyway...the few days pre-computer crash were fun. It was the last week of the house's spring break.  Things were more back to normal in that only the regular encargadas were in section and we kept a similar routine from the week prior: desayuno, activity with just section, comida, ciesta, activities around house, down time in section, dinner, and house soccer tournament before bed.  Ciesta time was usually my break for the day. Nap time for the whole house meant a good hour and a half when I wasn't so useful in section so depending on the day that was spent just hanging out or actually sleeping as well. 

Monday, the 25th, Jim Hoyt came back to town with a group of 8th graders and they were a really great group to have around.  A few of the guys joined us for soccer a couple days and I know the girls in the section really enjoyed having some new blood around. It helped spice the game up and everyone had more fun.  Tuesday, the 26th, Mr. Hoyt kindly delivered to me a two pound bag of Reese's he had brought me, a true nirvana moment for me since Reese's are my favorite candy (besides dark chocolate of course) and completely unavailable in Mexico.  My chocolate stash was still devastated from the chocolate incident the week before making the care package even more welcome.  Let's just say I was pretty excited and I've talked about this way too long.  But I was so excited!  Sometimes it's the little things that make all the difference here.

Tuesday night my girls participated in the tournament playing against the primeros section, or the seventh grade girls.  And they killed!  I played with them, but I was really quite useless.  At first we were the favorites being the younger section and immediately seen as the underdogs, but that was a grave error in judgment.  I think we won with six or eight to two.  It was a lot of fun though and the kids watching were really into the game.  I was very proud of my girls.

Wednesday the girls' sections had a spa day in our room.  Everyone chipped in, encargadas and directors, to provide every conceivable station possible.  Nails were being done, facials, pedicures...I was even recruited for massage duty.  I have to admit, spa day is not my thing, but the girls really enjoyed it.  And I got some great photos much to their embarrassment!

A row of my girls taking full advantage of the facial package. The cucumbers eventually degenerated to being an afternoon snack.

A view of the spa.  Behind Paloma is the table for massages and behind that the other stations in the room.

Pedicures to the left and facials on the right.

Manicure time!  Two girls from chicas enjoying getting dolled up.

Blanche, one of the directors, enjoying her own bit of spa day.

That night was a little rough for everyone as there was no water again.  The cistern was being cleaned out so the house when without water for while.  Thankfully this time we were forewarned as it was a planned deficit, but it was still a relief to have the water back on in the morning.

!Feliz Pascua! (Happy Easter!) 4/24

Easter starts early in the Miacatlan house.  We were all up for mass and ready to go by 6:30am.  It was a sunrise mass which I always enjoy.  The correlation between the extreme darkness of night and the lightening into day with Christ's rise was especially powerful and started the day off right (even if a little sleepy ;-).

Mass was held outside of the chapel as all the Holy Week masses were.  The benches above were placed facing the chapel on the large front lawn.  This photo is of the mayhem after mass when we were fed a special treat to start the Easter celebration.

Wesleigh and a friend enjoying the homemade chocolate donuts and amazing Mexican hot chocolate.  Delicious!  And a nice sugar buzz...

One of my girls, and her little sister.  They're holding the chocolate eggs (yes, more chocolate!) that Father gave everyone.  And I mean everyone!  Even the volunteers and directors were included.

The crowd of kids anxiously awaiting the start of the egg hunt.  The gates were closed so no one could cheat and start the hunt early.  As soon as they were opened, kids poured through and raced to every corner of the house.

The kids did a very thorough job of canvasing the place and so stone was left unturned.  I was impressed by their doggedness.

Two types of eggs were hidden.  One of the younger boys here shows off the first kind which I helped hide, the eggs the kids painted.  These could be exchanged for sweets.  They weren't as valued as the second type and broke easily so all over the house we were stepping in egg and the smell was everywhere.

The second type of egg was painted either bronze, silver, or gold and five of each color were hidden in very discreet locations known only to Chucho, one of the directors.  These eggs were worth money and everyone was allowed to look for them, not just the kids.  Eventually, Chucho started giving out hints to their locations until all were found.  This crowd is looking for the egg hidden in the campo area.

My egg hunt buddy.  He's the little brother of one of my favorite girls in my section.  He didn't find a golden egg, but he did find this beanie baby tiger instead and they became fast friends.  I think it was a good consolation prize.

The egg hunt is another example of how different an environment actually exists here at NPH.  Our volunteer coordinator, who is Mexican, had never heard of such a thing before and was really confused by the tradition.  We had to explain it to her from the American perspective.  Egg hunts are not a part of the traditional Mexican Easter and the massive egg hunt at NPH is a direct result of its American influences.  A lot of things here are like that; this place is not really Mexico and not really American, but a little bit of both with some other spice thrown in.  It truly is its own little world here.

The rest of the day was pretty relaxed after the early morning mass, chocolate feast, and egg hunt madness.  The kids were on a bit of sugar high for a while, but the low hit not long after the hunt ended.  We had a sparse breakfast and then just hung out in the section until comida.  After comida, a Swiss family of padrinos arrived who I was supposed to have given a tour to that morning.  I therefore spent my afternoon showing them around and answering questions about the house to the best of my ability.  They were the first Swiss people I had ever met and it was an interesting experience.  After they left, I returned to my section before we headed back to the comedor for more food.  (Yes, it was a day of feasting.)

After cena, our section spent a while playing soccer at the multicanchas.  It was a really pretty time of day and a nice way to work off some of the calories we'd been consuming all day!  Here's one of my girls posing while her team waits to play.

The girls in action!  We play by creating three teams through the age old tradition of captains picking their players.  Two teams play at a time to two or three goals.  Usually loser then sits down and the third team steps up.  Sometimes loser stays, but usually only when the girls aren't enthusiastic enough about playing to really be getting the full benefit of their activity period.

One of my girls posing with the ball.  She's one of the best players in the section when she wants to be and one of the best students.  She has a bright future ahead of her I think.

After soccer, we headed over to the patio for continued festivities.  The traditional Mexican treat of chicharrones was served with all the toppings imaginable.  Here's one of my girls posing with her masterpiece.

The big screen was set up for movie time.

I headed back to volunteer central not long after the patio.  A special treat awaited us as apparently the Easter bunny had visited our kitchen as well as the house.  Wesleigh had sweetly gifted each of us with a delicious Heath bar to bring our feasting to a close.  We watched a movie together before finally calling it a day.  Everyone had been us since 6am after all! Definitely another memorable Easter.

Spring Break Week 1 (4/18-4/23)

I came back from my descanso a little nervous.  All of the kids had two weeks off from school for spring break so I was facing twelve whole days of no scheduled off time.  This turned out to not be quite as arduous as I thought: the first week of spring break is apparently training week where the new encargados for the coming year spend time in the different sections learning how things run before they become full-time in July.  The female encargadas also took this time to rotate sections so for one week I was working in the section with four different encargadas every day.  It was a little strange, but with so much authority going around I was easily able to slip in and out without too many problems.  The schedule generally became activity with section in the morning after breakfast and chores, lunch, ciesta (nap time for grown ups), activity stations for the house as a whole, showers, dinner, soccer tournament at the multicanchas, and bed.

More specifically speaking, Monday morning, the 18th, we all went mango hunting around the house fields.  I provided the music with my portable speakers and iPod and spent some quality time with a few of my girls who I don't get the chance to talk with very often.  That night I was locked in the room by the interim encargada when she left for the soccer tournament which really caught me off guard.  Usually my encargadas ask me before locking the door and I had been waiting on the rest of my girls to leave when suddenly the door was shut.  I don't like being locked in.  That was not a fun experience.  Eventually the keys returned and I was able to make my escape.

Monday was also fumigation day so the girls had to move all their stuff out of their lockers in order to be sprayed.  This is Luz hanging out on top of her pile.

Tuesday night I had a lot of fun playing with the Chicos section down by the multi-canchas and two of them fell asleep on my lap. Teresa helped me carry them to bed.

Thursday I played soccer barefoot in the multicanchas and came out with some decent injuries to my feet.  I've finally learned my lesson and I won't try to play barefoot again!  It was also Holy Thursday so the Cuernavaca kids came to spend the next couple of days with us and we all celebrated mass together that afternoon.

Friday, mass was in the morning.  We also had a special treat of popsicles in the patio before dinner.  They were all different fruit flavors with actual chunks of fruit in them.  Quite delicious!  After dinner, the house showed Mel Gibson's Passion in the chapel complete with individual bags of chicharrones and agua fresca for each kid Grandes B and up.  The younger ones watched a different movie in Kinder.

Elena and Tatiana enjoying their popsicles.

Natty, one of the girls from Medianas, and I hanging out in the patio after popsicles.

Saturday morning began with a huge water fight that consumed the whole house.  This is an NPH tradition which comes from the Mexico tradition of remembering our baptism on Holy Saturday.  NPH has transformed a usually simple water ritual into an all out war where it's every man for himself.  You grab whatever you can find to hold water and attack any and everyone.  It was a pretty good time and very refreshing.  No pictures though.  I was too worried for my camera.

Each section was also given a bucket of hard boiled eggs to paint which the staff then hid that night. The girls really got into it and it was interesting to me to see their different styles.  Hiding the eggs that night was also fun, but a little difficult given it was pitch black out.  Dan and I were paired up to cover the multicanchas area.  We tried our best to be creative and actually hide the eggs given the sparse terrain.  You can imagine our surprise when we rejoined the group only to find that "hiding" eggs in the NPH tradition often meant just setting them out in the open, spaced a few feet apart. :-D  Oh well.  It was fun trying to be creative with hiding spots and flashlights.

Martha taking her time with her egg.  This one was one of my favorites.  She made a dark blue web design over the egg and then filled in the spots with green.  Portrait of Father Wasson in the background.

Our section's bucket of eggs.  How beautiful!

All of the girls hard at work.  This brought back a lot of good memories of Easters past.

My egg partner Dan climbing a tree to hide more eggs.  It was funny how different everything looked at night compared to the next morning.  I couldn't remember which tree this was to check to see if the eggs had been found!