Monday the Danza group returned from their month long trip in the States. Each year, a select group of students are chosen to travel in the US performing traditional Mexican dances to raise money and awareness for NPH. The whole house was very excited to have them back. I had fun during my library shift that night after dinner when, as I was leaving, I slipped and fell in a puddle of pig grease which had accumulated at the door. I later found out that the grease was from an activity the kids had done over the weekend. They had greased the terrace outside for a slip ‘n slide type activity. My butt didn’t appreciate it too much. I Skyped with Mom and Dad right after and then headed to a volunteer meeting about the impending Halloween celebration. Halloween being a strictly American holiday, any celebration there of fell to our shoulders. Tradition dictated a haunted house so we had to decide where, what, and when it would be held. Personally, my favorite part of the planning process was watching Moni’s transformation. She went from being an advocate hater of the entire Halloween idea to becoming our most enthusiastic creative director in her efforts to terrify the kids.
Tuesday I was surprised to find the general of our section gone. My girls had long been frustrated with her methods of running the section and apparently finally did something about it, banding together and requesting a meeting with the directors to formally request her removal. While I was slightly caught off guard by it all, I was pretty proud of my girls and the initiative they took together to guard their own well-being. Things the next few weeks were a little more difficult for Luz (the remaining Year of Service) and I as we were the only two in the section and I helped out where I could. That Tuesday night, a bunch of the volunteers sat down together and watched 28 Days Later to help us get in the Halloween mood.
Wednesday marked a serious change in the house’s schedule. Due to a new law in the state of Morelos, the school was forced to start thirty minutes later for an indeterminate length of time which therefore set the rest of the house’s schedule off by thirty minutes. The ordinance was inspired by a new rise in violence within the state. Apparently too many kids had been kidnapped and held for ransom on their way to school in the early hours, forcing the state to delay school in order for the kids to travel at safer times. While no such kidnappings had been occurring in our little pueblo, we too were affected by the schedule change.
Thursday night, the volunteers met with the Year of Service kids to enlist their help with our haunted house. The scale of the thing required more than just the ten of us to pull it off. The meeting went relatively well with promise of lots of help in various roles.
Friday, Luz left with the other first Year of Service kids for the annual concert trip hosted by a past volunteer and so another girl was placed in our section for the day to help out. I also spent a good portion of the afternoon with one of my girls looking up modern waltz songs for the impending quinceanera celebration to be held in early November.
Saturday continued the song search and was otherwise a very lazy day full of hanging out in the section with my girls. Sunday I spent most of the day setting up the bones of the haunted house and helping my girls’ make their skeletons for the Day of the Dead. A lot of scary, creative projects to keep me busy!
Paper mache in the section.
Being silly and cute.
The heads of the skeletons a work in progress. Lovely mess! It was everywhere.
Even I chipped in to help!
One of our rib cages looking pretty good. To be completed!
