August 22nd was the first day of school for all the kids in the house. Everyone was relieved. The kids were bored and needed new challenges, the Year of Service kids were a little burned out and needed more regular breaks, and the volunteers…well basically we agreed with the Year of Service. I was a proud Mother Hen when my girls put on their Secundaria uniforms for the first time and headed off to their first day of seventh grade. They were pretty excited as well. Not only were the uniforms new. They had new classes, new freedoms, and a new schedule. And it wasn’t just their schedule that had changed, but mine as well.
My morning still started when they went for desayuno at 6:15am followed by prayer with the girls before they headed to school. I then had a thirty minute break before sweep team (yeah! Sweep team! I missed you so much over the summer weeks! Heavy sarcasm implied.) After sweep team was my first break of the day until going to the comedor at 10am to set up for almuerzo and ending with cleaning our fourth of the comedor with the other secundaria mujeres encargadas. Afterwards, my second break was jnow extended. The girls no longer were released from school until right before comida giving me thirty extra minutes of break time. After comida, I now would head to our jardines or gardens to supervise the girls with that chore. Following chores was an hour of homework, an hour of activity, running time, showers, dorm chores before dinner, dinner at 7pm, and cleaning the comedor before prayers and bed.
This new schedule took some getting used to and changed even more in the coming weeks. For that first week though, I was bursting with pride and loved hearing about how their new classes were going, which electives they were planning on choosing, and the new things they were learning. Responsibility looked good on them and I kept catching myself marveling at how grown up they all had become in the short time I’d been here.
As far as the day to day went, it was a relatively uneventful few days. Dan’s brother came to visit and it was fun to meet him. The girls in the house went wild over Dan 3 (Dan 2 had visited earlier that year). Volunteers also received a new shipment of books to add to our library in the sala. It featured such classics as Weight Lifting for Dummies and the ABC’s of Holistic Health. Some people donate really random books. Why they bought them in the first place is beyond me! Wednesday I accidentally fell asleep in the afternoon waking up two hours later. That was disorienting. And proved just how much I needed descanso. Friday started off well when I slammed my finger in our door leaving for desayuno. As others were still sleeping, I spent about five minutes dancing around our dark patio cursing silently to myself. Other than that painful start the weekend went well. Wesleigh, Monika, Bailey, Natacha, Alli, and I spent our free time eating, watching movies, and cruising the town. Descanso ended with all the girls in the sala watching The Notebook back in Miacatlan. Not a bad end in my opinion.
Monday signaled the start of Edge planning and the reopening of the library. As Martina left unexpectedly, no one had been given the responsibility of the library leaving it to fall on the shoulders of all of us. I started pulling a couple shifts a week after cena on Monday and Wednesday. English class has not yet started, but my time with my girls was already rapidly disappearing. My Tuesday night ended with a rather tearful conversation in the section. The girls had not adjusted that well to their new encargadas and were having behavioral problems so our general of the section sat them all down for a chat. Over the course of that chat, I learned a lot more about the kind of lives my girls had before coming here. It shook me to the core. They usually don’t open up about things like that too much and never with so many together. It hurt my heart to listen especially knowing how blessed I am and having Mom and Dad arriving the next day. The talk seemed to have the desired effect and the girls went to bed a little chastised as did I. I was grateful to know I’d get to see my parents the next day!
