Dinner and Cuernavaca (5/30-6/5)

Tuesday night marked our second director's dinner since coming to Miacatlan.  These dinners were supposed to be happening every month, but due to schedule conflicts and vacation schedules, the directors put off returning the favor for a little while.  The party was well worth the wait though!  I think everyone had a good time and it was nice to unwind with those from the house we were used to being more professional with.  This house is staffed with some pretty great people and it's special to get the chance to know them outside of work.

Due to the late hour of our fiesta the night before, I slept in a little but made it up for sweep team at 7:45.  Wednesday afternoon was another break from normal as Teresa, Monika, and I in an effort to improve Edge (the middle school youth group program) had decided to go to the Cuernavaca house and participate in one of their youth group nights. We hitched a ride with Daniela and had a fun trip over.  Monika had a friend for most of the ride.

Monika with Duke, Daniela's dog.

We made it just in time for the night to start.  It was an unusual Life Teen night for the house.  The kids had been asked to dress up as certain characters from the Bible and narrate a bit about their chosen character's life.  We had King David, King Solomon, Noah, Mary, Abraham and Sarah, Elizabeth, Eve, and many more.  Monika was a real champ and dressed up as Elizabeth, mother of John the Baptist, to represent the Miacatlan house.  The kids seemed to have a good time and a winner was picked at the end.  The Abraham and Sarah group won being the most elaborate and involving the most people.

All of the participants posing with Mario on the left.

Afterwards Mario, the Life Teen leader and a fellow volunteer, sat down with us to discuss how he runs his program and how we might use some of his resources.  It was a good chat and important for us to better understand what we should be doing with our own program.  We then all headed to tacos in town with the other Cuernavaca volunteers and were met not long after by the rest of our Miacatlan crew.  Since the Cuernavaca volunteers had travelled to Miacatlan for our last volunteer dinner, we decided to return the favor and come to Cuernavaca for the night.  It was a lot of fun with a lot of good food.

Whitney had just returned from a trip home to North Carolina and had generously brought back a present for me: a new laptop from my parents. I was thrilled to get it.  Back at the apartment, I killed about six more cockroaches (decreasing numbers a good sign) and Monika, Wesleigh, and I enjoyed some ice cream and chat time before heading to bed.  It was an early morning per usual except this time to catch the teachers' bus back to Miacatlan.  Beyond the morning, Thursday was pretty typical and I was excited to get to use my new computer to chat with Mom and Dad on Skype that night.

Friday marked the start of another descanso, this one without Monika as she was headed to Guatemala instead for her six month visa renewal.  Wesleigh and I took the teachers' bus to the Cuernavaca house, dropped off our stuff, and headed back to downtown to do a little shopping, groceries and souvenirs.  Saturday we slept late and then headed to the roof of Casa Nolan (the Cuernavaca volunteers' residence) to soak up a little sun.  Jeremy joined us and we watched a movie while up there.  After getting badly burned (stupid, tricky Mexican sun), Wesleigh and I took a coffee break at Starbucks and spent the night watching a couple movies.  Sunday was a little more shopping in a suburb of Cuernavaca known for its ceramics before heading back to Miacatlan.