Two Worlds Collide (8/12-21)

My first visitor from home arrived Friday, August 12^th.  It was the start of my descanso.  I supervised jardines in the morning, went with the girls to breakfast, finished my last minute packing, and headed to the airport to pick up Jenna.  Jenna and I have been close friends since 1^st grade when we were on the same soccer team. We remained on the same soccer team through high school and classmates’ middle school through UNC.  It’s been a long friendship and I was thrilled to share my life here with her.  Her flight was on time (although I was a little late) and I spotted her yellow purse before her.  We shared a warm greeting and then headed to Cuernavaca for the weekend.

Jenna was promptly introduced to my fellow descano-ers and we shared a dinner at my favorite taco spot with Bailey, Meghan, and Alli.  Saturday we got an early start with the gang to spend the day in Tepotzlan, a gorgeous little town nearby where I attended a wedding in March.  This is the place where I also attempted to hike the mountain for the gorgeous view and temple.  Where I was unsuccessful prior, I succeeded that day. 

Me and Jenna at the top.

The temple with Jenna taking a photo.

We all made it to the top: me, Alli, Meghan, Bailey, Wesleigh, Monika, and Jenna.  It was a gorgeous day and a really tough hike.  This was not your typical hiking trail: it was mainly rocks in some kind of step form and straight up.  The end goal was totally worth it.  It was a spectacular view, pretty cool ruins, and we even made some new furry friends.

The weird part ant-eater, part monkey, part raccoon animals that live on top of the mountain.  They're very pushy with tourists.

An idea of how steep the trail was in places.

Once we got back down, the gang headed to the market to enjoy some fresh food and Mexican shopping.  Another bus back and we basically called it a day.  Everyone was pretty exhausted.

Sunday was spent exploring Cuernavaca.  We showed Jenna around, first taking a stroll down the street of books, admiring the beautiful paintings in front of the cathedral, and sipping coffee downtown. 

Our delicious looking coffee and strudel.

After our coffee break, I took Jenna to the black market for some educational shopping and then we explored a little of Jardin Borda.  While in the gardens, we discovered some empanadas, Jenna’s favorite Mexican food which is not very common in central Mexico.  It was a nice surprise and delicious treat!  After the gardens, we headed back to the apartment, packed up, and Jenna arrived at Casa San Salvador.  I gave her a quick tour of the place in the fading light, we grabbed some tortas at my favorite place across the street, enjoyed a movie, and crashed.

The next few days were spent enjoying the house and spending time with the kids.  It was their last week of summer vacation before school so activities were no longer happening.  Instead the schedule was very relaxed with a lot of lazing around.  I spent most of it with my section.  Jenna came in and out spending time with my girls, the other volunteers, and with different kids in the house.  Some highlights included: a day of soccer with the section during which Jenna had a lot of trouble as she could never figure out which girls were actually on her team; peces day when she helped us gut and clean the fish for the house; and a lot of pirated movies.

Wednesday night we headed to Cuernavaca again for tamales and tacos and to be close to our bus for our trip to Taxco the next day.  Taxco is another small town close to Cuernavaca that is famous for its silver and silversmiths.  The town is built on the side of a steep mountain.  We thought we had had problems walking in Cuernavaca; Taxco was a whole other ballgame.  We drank a lot of coffee, explored a lot of silver shops, ate a lot of good food (Jenna especially), and purchased a lot of cool stuff.  Unfortunately Jenna was having some ankle problems so we stopped by the house clinic on our way back to the apartment.  The doctor was very sweet and gave her some medicine to help with the swelling.  It was another early night and we got ready to leave for Mexico City the following day.

Jenna with all her food.  She was very hungry.

A view of Taxco on the mountain.

Jenna with our matching yellow purses at our favorite cafe.  We spent a lot of time there that day.

Friday found us again on the bus heading to Mexico City.  We quickly found our hostel, recommended by Monika and located directly in the middle of downtown.  We checked in, dropped our stuff, and headed to lunch.  Jenna’s guidebook recommended a great restaurant near the Anthropology Museum famous for its margaritas so we both indulged a little before heading to the museum.  The Anthropology Museum is the pride of Mexico…and huge.  I had been before on one of my previous Mexico trips, but it had been a while. We did a thorough canvas of the building and entertained ourselves posing with various artifacts. 

Me borrowing the Aztec king's crown.

Jenna, very kindly lending her head to a statue who had none.

My new boyfriend.  I was always told height doesn't matter!

Yeah, yeah, Jenna's an angel.  A photo op statue in front of the museum.

After the museum, we ended up at our favorite café chain for dinner and having nothing but coffee.  The caffeine definitely perked us up and it was with that high that we met our roommate at the hostel.  Her name was Ellie, she was Australian, spoke no Spanish, and was traveling through Central America on her way to spend several months as a vet’s assistant in Costa Rica.  She had arrived in Mexico just the day before and was already frustrated and lost with the language.  We invited her along for our plans the next day, and together headed to the hostel’s terrace to check out the live band playing that night.  They were awful so it was a short-lived trip.


Saturday the three of us ate our free breakfast at the hostel and then headed to Templo Mayor, the remains of an Aztec temple located in the middle of downtown.  That was followed by a trip to Xochicalco, a neighborhood in the southern part of the city.  It’s famous for its canals and the boats which navigate it.  Jenna was again thrilled to find a food stand selling empanadas and together we splurged on a boat ride through the canals.  That was a pretty unique experience.  The boats were very festive and the canals were flowing shopping centers full of portable mariachi bands hoping to hop on board for a song, boats full of food and drink, and floating tiendas of festive tourist gifts.  We kept our trip pretty simple much to the disappointment of our boatman and headed back empty handed. 

The National Cathedral in the background and the original Templo Mayor in the fore.

The boats used in the canals.

Jenna and Ellie during the ride.

Our next stop was to another neighborhood nearby for their Saturday market.  The market itself wasn’t very large by the time we got there and it was quite an adventure finding it, but Jenna and I both made purchases. Back to Centro we went, found a cheap taco place after seeing the disappointing dinner at the hostel, and treated ourselves to some refreshing ice cream.  All three of us packed up that night.  Ellie was moving on the next morning to farther south in Mexico and Jenna had her flight to catch.

Jenna’s last morning was just the two of us.  Ellie had left earlier and so wasn’t around for breakfast.  We dawdled a bit enjoying the bad coffee, checked the room twice, and called a cab.  It was a sad farewell.  We both had had a great time and weren’t quite ready to head back to our normal lives.  The taxi driver was very sweet giving us matching Aztec charms before whisking Jenna away.  I watched them drive out of sight and then headed to the metro for my own return trip to Miacatlan.

Jenna waving good-bye from her cab.  I was sad to see her go!



The Official I Hate Water Balloons Post

I will never look at water balloons the same way again. Yes, they're all fun and games until you're the one making them.  They take an average of 15 seconds to make and one second to break.  You might think 15 seconds is no big deal, but when you're preparing water balloons for an hour long activity that's a lot of seconds (3600 to be exact).  Multiply that by 15 and you've approximated your prep time.  Not mention carrying the suckers.  Water is HEAVY and enclosing it in little rubber shells does make it any lighter.  So the problem of finding a water source as close as possible to the end site is not a hiccup to be scoffed at.  Just 20 feet is a long way to lug and there are no water sources that close to our prep site.  Plus, kids have no respect for the prep time.  They all (regardless of age or sex) fascination with water balloons that causes them to lunge and destroy any water balloon in their vicinity.  A guard must therefore be posted at all times near the water balloon stash to ward off possible culprits.  Ideally, this guard would have five arms and legs to move fast enough and snatch quickly enough at the offending thieves.

Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating the gravity of the situation just a little.  But not much.  For four weeks, five days a week, I spent each afternoon dealing with these kinds of problems.  I wasn't alone. Wesleigh and I were partners in this battle and we came up with a pretty streamlined process for dealing with all these eccentricities.  To start, we prepared the balloons in her section's bathroom.  Bottom floor of the girls' dorm, as close as possible to the volleyball court where our activity was held, six sinks, and lots of willing helpers in the form of her girls to help the actual prep time go faster.  To ward off potential thieves, the first two buckets of balloons would be taken out to the court, covered with a towel, and guarded by one of us while the other retrieved the rest of the buckets.  To make the balloons last longer and keep ourselves sane, we limited each section to only two buckets of balloons.  Once the balloons were gone, a real volleyball was produced to entertain them until the end of activity.  Less water was also put in the balloons themselves.  This meant they would usually only break after a few falls to the floor, not the first one. 

All these techniques helped our activity run smoother, but bottom line, we were both so nauseated by the mere appearance of water balloons, we considered having a burning party once activities were over for the summer.  I have lost my water balloon innocence and I will never so casually throw a bomb of aqua again.

Swollen Feet and Off-Campus Trips (8/1-11)

August heralded the start of another secundaria responsibility: serving at meals.  The female sections rotate according to month; one month is primeros, the next segundos, the next terceros, and then primeros again.  August was our month to serve.  This meant going to all three meals early, setting up the serving tables, dispensing food to the entire house, and being the last to eat.  This is all in addition to the regular comedor cleaning they must do after every meal.  All in all, it’s a lot of comedor time for secoundaria mujeres.

August was also my month of excursions.  Due to money (or lack thereof) the house restricted excursions for the summer to two per section.  I accidentally missed their first excursion to the movies my first week back so instead I went with Grandes A and my girls who were still in that section on Thursday, the 4^th.  It was fun to get out of the house for a bit especially since that so rarely happens with the kids.  We saw Captain America.  It was so-so, especially since the movie was dubbed, but lots of fun nevertheless.

Friday my foot started to swell.  And it kept swelling.  It got to be so bad, I determined a trip to the clinic necessary, a trip I had previously avoided for other illnesses/problems.  Saturday morning started normally enough.  I met my girls for breakfast and then headed to the clinic with one of them who also needed to see the doctor.  I finally went in for my consultation and I walked out barely able to walk.  Needless to say, I ended up taking that day and Sunday off.  I underwent some intensive soaking and sitting around so by Monday morning I was able to walk well enough to head back to work.  I wasn’t left entirely to my own devices however; Alli also took a forced sick day on Saturday and kept me company.  We had quite a few laughs about our maladies especially since a good part of the day was spent entertaining ourselves the old fashioned way: without electricity.

That Tuesday was my second excursion of the month: to Temixco with my girls and the rest of the female secundaria sections.  Temixco is a Mexican water part made from an ex-hacienda.  The full name is Ex-Hacienda de Temixco Parque Acuatico.  It was pretty cool.  Some of the original hacienda architecture was reworked into water features or gardens and there were a lot of different pools and rides. 

A view of some of the more artistic pools.  This area in particular was more for parties and entertaining than part of the actual water park.

A bunch of the girls having a good time with some of the bigger rides in the background.

My girls being silly in the wave pool.

A different view of the park.

The ride back on the bus.  The inflated alligator was a purchase by one of my encargadas.  Somehow the ride back turned into a screaming contest to see which side of the bus could sing louder, the front or the back.  The real loser was me: I was stuck in the middle for all 45 minutes of it.

It wasn’t as big as what I’m used to in the States, but enough variety to keep the girls entertained.  Unfortunately, due to my foot infection, I was strictly forbidden by Dr. Dad from entering the water in any way and enjoying myself, so instead I played photographer, read a lot, and got a little more sun (as if I wasn’t dark enough already).  Everyone had a good time and we arrived back at the house exhausted.

The rest of my August time was spent in activities with the girls, getting to know the new volunteers better, watching or participating in the house soccer tournament, and filling up water balloons.  But expounding on that joy will have to wait for my next post.

One Heck of a Giant Family Reunion (7/25-31)

It was another week full of activities, food, and soccer tournaments.  The biggest events: a group from the UNC Dentistry School came for their annual trip of cleaning teeth and eradicating cavities and that Saturday was the 57^th Anniversary of NPH.  I had no idea about the UNC trip until they were actually here. It was fun to find another hidden connection to NPH from my old life that I had been ignorant of beforehand.  My favorite story from their visit was when one of my girls who stayed in Grandes A accidentally threw up in her dentist’s hand while he was cleaning her teeth.  Apparently she had a little more than a gag reflux.  Neither seemed to know what to do about it and just stared at each other for a few seconds before breaking into action.  Poor kid.  She was pretty embarrassed.

From of my girls cleaning up after a morning activity spent cooking.  This was one of the more popular activies.

Especially since they got to eat the fruits of their labor.

Tuesday in the morning we had our T-shirt workshop.  I never was able to finish a shirt for myself.  There were too many requests for "help."

Wesleigh and I found a good routine with our activity and came to know what to expect from the groups.  Wednesday the normal schedule was interrupted by a huge storm; we spent most of the day inside.  Thursday and Friday were used  in large part for party prep and Friday was the private house party, kids and staff only.  We all had a blast with the Cuernavaca and Monterrey kids playing different sports which culminated in a giant baseball game in the patio and another delicious meal of hotdogs and French fries.

Me and another of my new girls hanging out at the school enjoying the games.  She had arrived at the house only a few weeks earlier with her two younger sisters; they had all grown up in the circus.

The “public” anniversary on Saturday had a relatively simple schedule: tournaments of basketball, volleyball, and soccer in the school in the morning and afternoon, good food for breaks, and a lot of chatting.

The male volunteers all joined the Miacatlan team to represent the house in the men's tournament. They showed us proud and won their division.

The newly painted seal was completed just the day before and was nice and shiny for the event.

The women's team from Miacatlan was a rag tag bunch.  They were a mixture of directors, volunteers, year of service, university students, and even a few of my girls.

Flags were put up representing the nine NPH houses across the Western hemisphere. Mexico's flag is of course the largest.

My girls competed in the girl's division and made me proud.  They had been practicing for weeks and were really nervous.  I think the cute uniforms helped give their confidence a boost.

While chatting and enjoying the crowd, we were interrupted by these two gentlemen who introduced themselves and thanked us for supporting the house.  We in turn were a little star struck.  Both gentlemen had been brought to the house within a year of the organization's foundation.  I felt like I was meeting celebrities!  They came with all of their extended family, children and grandchildren.  I asked for a picture to record the event.  From left to right: Meghan (Cuernavaca volunteer), Alli (new Miacatlan volunteer and roommate), Wesleigh, and me with our new friends.

It was like a giant family reunion and carnival all in one.  Pequenos who were now grandparents brought their entire families, all the current Pequenos were there, and a lot of history was represented.  As the weekend was supposed to be my descanso, I had dinner in town with my fellow volunteer descanso-ers and slept late the next day to recover from all the excitement.

The Princess and the Plywood Story

No one was happy about moving, but it had to be done.  I checked out the boys' room thoroughly before the actual move took place and went ahead and chose which compartment I wanted for myself.  It had a window, two lockers, a nice big "door," and a decent amount of space that would not change due to its location.  The only problem was the bed was a little smaller than the one I had grown used to so I couldn't keep my mattress.  I wasn't too upset about this, my mattress springs were starting to poke through anyway, but it did make things a little more difficult as my new room's previous occupant wanted to keep his old mattress.

So we moved.  Martina and Andrew kept their old mattresses while Dan and I made do with what was left over.  After all our things had been switched out, I finally gave my attention to the bed situation.  I tested the mattress on it.  Too hard.  I lifted up the mattress and discovered that several sheets of plywood had been put between the springs of the bed and the mattress itself. Interesting.  I wondered why. Can't hurt to try it sans plywood, right?  Over the course of the next couple of weeks, I tried every conceivable combination of mattresses, singular, double, different singular, etc.  Of the four mattresses at my disposal, I tried all, together and separate.  Nothing really worked.  Some were too soft, some were too hard, some were too high when combined...the list goes on.  I felt like Goldilocks.  And then, a few nights before I was supposed to go home, the springs started to give out a little and I suddenly found myself sitting in a hole in my bed.  But what to do?  I had exhausted all my available resources.  How was I to get a good night's sleep?

While home for vacation I decided to therefore bring back my old egg carton cover from college and a mattress pad.  My first night back I tried it out.  It helped, but no miracle.  Then, with the early departure of Martina, I tried her mattress.  Better, but still too soft.  Finally, in what felt like a desperate last attempt, I put the plywood back on.  Perfection.  I officially love my bed and have slept well ever since.  Who would of guessed?  The perfect combination was plywood from the beginning and my bed and I now have an ideal relationship.  Now, if I could just work things out with the bathroom door...

My new room and my plywood bed in all its glory.  That's a window in the right corner.

The other corner of my room.  It took forever to get the boy smell out, but at this point we've eradicated it for the most part.

I'm back! (7/18-24)

My first working day back I headed to desayuno with my girls.  A lot had changed in my absence.  First off, twenty-one of my twenty-six girls in Grandes A had graduated from primaria and moved up to a new section, primeros de secundaria, the youngest of the three secundaria sections.  In US terms, this means they would be entering seventh grade in the fall. This move in section meant a change in dorm, a change in encargadas, a change in seating in the comedor, and a change in chores.  The girls were now responsible for cleaning a third of the comedor after every meal along with the other female secundaria sections and keeping a few gardens, or more accurately patches of grass, neat and tidy in the house.  Our Grandes A encaragadas had both left the house and moved to Monterrey where the university is, so they were no longer around the house.  Half the year of service kids had followed suit and a new batch had come in.  In our section, the encargadas were now Gris, a second year who I knew from before, and Luz, the newbie.  Both really sweet.  Our dorm room was now located on the second floor of the girls’ dorm meaning I would have to climb steps now in order to reach the girls.  Our comedor tables were now located in recessed alcoves of the comedor making seating a bit more of an adventure.  Bottom line: lots of changes and I was a little anxious about them all walking into the comedor that day.

                                              

But even with all that, there was even more to deal with.  As I said, Martina had left the Saturday I returned and that Monday the new volunteers arrived.  Volunteers’ was therefore in a bit of an uproar.  I was now rooming with all three of the new female volunteers, two of which I had not met before that day.  My worries were foundationless it turned out as both were very sweet and we got along well.  I had also missed the start of summer vacation and came back in time for the beginning of the second week.  This meant the schedule was completely different for everyone.  Now the kids were allowed to sleep in until 7am at which point they got up to do chores, 9am desayuno, 10:30am to 12:45pm activities, 2pm comida, 3pm to 5pm activities, 5pm to 7pm break/shower/chores, 7pm dinner, and 8pm to 10pm soccer tournament.  This was the schedule on all weekdays for four of the six weeks of summer vacation.  The activities were two in the morning and two in the afternoon.  Morning activities were less active and consisted of things such as spa, table games, painting (T-shirts, statues, etc.), crafts, and Zumba.  Afternoon activities were meant to keep the kids moving: soccer, volleyball, softball, etc.

Two of my girls enjoying their fruit break.  Every morning between activites the kids were treated to some sort of fresh fruit.  A healthy way to break up the morning!

Leslie, a visiting volunteer who had a few of my girls when they were in Medianas, with one of my girls playing table games during the morning activity.

Guess Who?  I loved this game growing up and played it a little too much over the course of vacation.  It was a challenge playing in Spanish.  I had a lot of help.

My first day back was the first day that this schedule was enacted.  I met my girls for breakfast, they cleaned the comedor, and we headed to activities.  That afternoon, I was assigned to help with an afternoon activity: water balloon volleyball with Wesleigh and a year of service kid.  The activity went only so-so.  It was our first day and we went through the water balloons rather quickly.  Since we had the youngest sections that day, it was a bit of a problem.  After a quick shower, I was treated to delicious American style hot dogs and French fries at the despidida for the current visitor group.  They left the next morning.  At the soccer tournament after dinner my girls won their game against an older girl section and my team (I was asked to play with the year of service girls again) won theirs as well.

This day was basically repeated the rest of the week.  I would spend most of the day with my girls besides my afternoon activity period working the water balloon activity and basically each night my section and my team played in the tournament.  Monika returned on Wednesday from her Guatemala vacation and Saturday was spent hanging around the section a lot.  I gave a tour for the new visitor group that morning and we had a dance that night in the tae kwon do room. It was awful.  The room is basically a cave in the house, aka no air flow.  It was great for controlling the kids. The entrance/exit was carefully guarded, but there was no water and everything smelled to high heaven.  Sunday was again a little more relaxed.  The kids spent most of the day practicing dances for that night which they performed for our new group of visitors and the rest of the house.  It was just my first week back and already I was exhausted!

One of the cutest Matamoros kids at the soccer tournament Friday night.  NPH has an extension house in Matamoros.  It is tiny, only about forty kids, and they spend each summer at the house in Miacatlan.  We all enjoyed having them around.

Two of my girls being cute in the section.  The one on the right was a newbie for me.  She had stayed behind when everyone changed sections.  I was happy to have such a sweet addition to our group!

Through several high school art programs in the States, all of the kids in the home had their pictures turned into works of art by the US students.  Apparently, this project had been in the works for a while and it was finally delivered and completed my first week back.  The quality ranged a lot of course, but I think overall the kids were very proud of their portraits.

Our new dorm room. It's smaller than our other and therefore harder to play in, but it's also cozier.

The dance Saturday night.  Like I said, it's a cave.

A bunch of my girls having a good time soaked in sweat.

Becca, one of the new volunteers and one of my new roommates, getting to know the kids at comida familiar on Sunday.

Me and a friend chilling in the patio.  It was good to be back.

The dance performances that night.  The teams were made up of kids from all different sections.  This one in particular was very cute as the little boy up front was the only boy on the team and quite a good dancer.  He kind of did his own thing up front while the girls performed a choreographed dance in the background.

The Airport Tar Heel Story

So...as I mentioned in my previous post, I had a significant delay on an already late flight on my trip home.  I had been up a while with very little sleep the night before and so began to get a little loopy while waiting for a final decision on my last flight.  I had made it to the gate with plenty of time and had already been waiting a while when they made the first announcement about the delay in flight.  The gate had become pretty crowded.  The row I was sitting at was not very long, only about four seats when an older man sat at the extreme end of the row from me.  I had my iPod in as well as reading material making me look very busy and unavailable for conversation.  This did not stop the man from trying.  He was obviously casting around trying to find someone to talk to and would insert himself into other conversations without invitation.  There was a lot of superficial moaning about the flight delay and several phone calls to random people he apparently hadn't spoken with in a while.  I vigilantly kept my eyes on my book so as not to make eye contact and become another unwilling conversationalist.

Eventually, and inevitable, someone finally sat down with us, a young Mexican woman.  She chose the seat next to me leaving space between her and the older guy.  As soon as she sat down, he tried to talk to her. She responded with a few quick words in Spanish which after a few more tries on his part finally made him give up.  I observed everything with a small internal giggle.  Not long after, the flight crew announced our plane unserviceable and the need to switch planes/gates.  This is where my loopy factor kicked in and the first time I have ever done this in my life.  I started a conversation with the Mexican girl in Spanish!

We started chatting about where we were from, why we were flying to Raleigh, about Mexico, our kids, etc. as we joined the new line to board the new plane.  In this line we stood near another older man wearing a Tar Heel hat.  He obviously did not speak Spanish and had no idea what we were talking about.  That did not prevent him from trying to join our conversation.  I don't remember what his initial comments were, but they were all very unrelated to our conversation.  At first I tried translating a little for my new friend because I wasn't sure what her English level was and together we laughed about his randomness.  Like I said, I was pretty loopy at this point as well as emotionally stretched with the delay, so I found pretty much everything funny.  He kept interjecting and we kept sort of responding and talking.  At first it was innocent enough, but of course he started to make some veiled hints about what we should do later that night and his current single status and I started employing my usual tactic of pretending not to hear.  Finally, they announced boarding and we were able to separate.  My new friend and I exchanged info before she boarded; we were on separate ends of the plane.

Our new Tar Heel fan friend boarded before either of us.  I think he was some kind of special member or something as he was at the front of the plane and we each had to pass him to get to our seats.  I was honestly worried he would try to pinch me as I passed and tried to walk quickly up the aisle.  No such event occurred and I gratefully sank into my seat.

I'm obviously too busy eating to deal with creepy old guys.

Punch line: Later during the flight I got up to use the bathroom in the back of the plane and on my way to the bathroom I passed my new friend.  She was sitting at the window on a row of three.  She waved and then gestured emphatically next to her.  The flight was not full, so our Tar Heel fan had taken the initiative to move to the back of the plane and found the open seat next to her.  Thankfully he was at least polite enough to sit on the aisle and was passed out when I walked past.  Who knows what kind of exchange transpired before I found her.  I've never been so grateful for a full row on a plane in my life.

Conclusion: A lot of weird people in airports, but you get to meet some pretty cool people too.  Maybe I should be a little more open to conversation when I travel by myself.  Just not too open.  Especially not with older men travelling alone.  Ewww.

Home and Other Adventures (7/7-17)

Well, I'm not sure if you realized this, but in order to get home the first step is to get to the airport.  So after my usual breakfast with my girls at 6:15am and seeing them off to school, I boarded a bus and then a taxi and then another bus in order to make it to the airport in plenty of time for my flight.  The first flight went very smoothly.  The second one...not so much.  It was delayed over an hour and a half.  Normally this would not have bothered me too, too much, but it was a late flight to start and I didn't actually end up getting into Raleigh until 12:30 in the morning.  The delay provided some good stories.  Bottom line: I got really loony and started talking to all kinds of random strangers.  Definitely not my usual MO.

Mom, Dad, and Janet were all at the airport to meet me.  I spent most of the night talking to Janet and the next morning being shown around the house by my parents to see Grandma's things that were new additions for me.  It was really hard.  The last time I'd been home, Gramma had just died and Dad was still in Pennsylvania working on the details.  It was good to be back and get some closure on that.

Late that afternoon I left to spend the weekend with Lauren, my college roommate, in Norfolk.  I got in before her and checked into our motel room.  The next day was our beach day: soaking up some rays and catching up.  Notice my Wisconsin hat.  I happened to have toured the school while looking at undergrad and brought it with me to support Lauren's new medical school acceptance and plans.  That's right!  I officially have friends in med school.

We had a fun day in the sun and a great Thai dinner that night.  Funnily enough, Thai food was on my "Must Eat While Home" list and Lauren had just happened to look up a good place to eat before coming.  It's all in the details!  After dinner we walked around a bit.  There was a failed attempt at seeing a movie and then a successful drink on the strip.

A fun display for anyone to contribute to while we walked downtown Norfolk.

After breakfast at Waffle House we parted ways and headed to our respective homes.  The rest of my time home was pretty chill: a lot of eating from my "To Eat" list, a lot of hot showers, a lot of just sitting around enjoying the air conditioning and the big screen.  I did get a much needed haircut and spent a fair bit of time travelling to Chapel Hill to catch up with friends there.  I was also very excited to see Erin, my other awesome college roommate, who told me first hand her engagement story and showed off her ring.  (Congratulations again, you two!!!)  What's this? Life keeps moving and big changes keep happening even with me isolated down in Mexico?  I don't remember that being part of the deal...

Mom trying on her hiking stuff while I was home.  They were busy preparing for their upcoming Scotland trip.

It was a great trip and I loved seeing everyone, but I also missed my girls terribly and the other volunteers.  The time flew and I was ready to head back when the 16th rolled around.  No problems this time flight wise. I arrived back at the house relatively early that Saturday with luggage full of toiletries, American food and fresh clothes.  In my absence (aka that morning) Martina had decided to leave the house permanently, so I was again in the room by myself for a couple of nights. I also stole her mattress. Sunday I returned to Cuernavaca and met Wesleigh to see the new and final Harry Potter movie and enjoyed my last few hours of freedom before officially joining the summer vacation work crew the next morning.

The End of an Era and My First Six Months (6/27-7/6)

My last ten days with my girls in Grandes A began with Natascha following me around for the day and spending time with my girls.  Because she was early and gradually assuming responsibility in the clinic, she took advantage of her extra time by getting to know the house in general and the other volunteer responsibilities specifically a little better.  It was fun.  Natascha was even able to join us for a little soccer after dinner that night.  Thankfully for her, she too is a big soccer fan and enjoyed playing.

                     

My last ten days also signaled the beginning of the house’s electricity and water cutting.  Because of a slight financial crisis in the house budget, from that time until today the house has been cutting power in most parts of the house during normal business hours and some days the water.  This change has made us very creative with our break time and Internet use, amenities we basically went without for the kids’ school vacation time.  Anyway, back to my week…

Wednesday I was there for my last Edge before my trip home and the start of summer vacation.  We took the cheap route and watched a movie.  Popcorn included of course!  The girls loved it so I consider it a success.  Unfortunately it rained rather hard that night confining the section to the dorm.  This did not deter the girls from a mini soccer tournament in the room.  The bathroom door was one goal and the main entrance the other.  Thankfully no one was seriously hurt.  We did get yelled at for making too much noise. :-D

Natascha hard at work with our somewhat inadequate broom.  She's over six feet and that broom handle was no more than two.

Thursday found Natascha and I hard at work rearranging our room in order to fit a fourth nook (I’m not sure how else to call them).  We did some heavy duty cleaning, trash collecting, and dumping.  That night was the June birthday fiesta and I came back to the section to find the girls busy cleaning out the excess lockers.  It was interesting seeing the sort of things which had collected over the course of the year: Christmas wrapping paper, random pottery, incomplete board games, extra uniforms…just to name a few.  Most was redistributed or thrown away.

One of my girls with me at her birthday party.  The presents are made from whatever extra donations the house has and are usually pretty practical.  The encargadas put them together earlier in the week.

A few of my girls sitting in the middle of the randomness that came from those extra lockers.  They were a little late to bed that night.

Some fun in the dorm that same night.

Friday I accidentally overslept missing all my pre-descanso responsibilities.  That was a little disorienting.  Natascha and I took the teacher’s bus to Cuernavaca after a little down time in volunteers (and my computer battery running out).  After some Mega shopping we went to our favorite taco place for dinner and Monika joined us back at the apartment.  Saturday was spent sleeping, getting the apartment ready for the new volunteers, and hanging out with friends at a bar that night.  Sunday, more sleeping and a movie with Monika.  We even were able to briefly meet a few of the new volunteers and when I say briefly, I mean briefly.  They walked up with their luggage, we said hi, Marinay started to steer them towards the house, and we said bye to head back.  The whole exchange took less than ten minutes.  I was glad to put some faces to names though.

The gang old and new hanging out at one of Marinay's favorite bars and Natascha's first night out on the town in Mexico.

A visitor group had arrived while I was on descanso and I got my first up close encounter with them on Tuesday when they decided to “help” us clean the comedor after almuerzo.  We had twice as many people as normal cleaning, but somehow managed to take just as much time.  I pretty much had side splitting laughter the whole time watching the encargadas reaction to the “help.” It was sweet of them to try though.  That night was their despidida from the house and we had a feast of hamburgers that were oh-so-delicious.  The visitors were also challenged to a game of soccer which they promptly won much to the chagrin of the house.  I ended up giving the thank you speech at the end of the night.  Teresa was supposed to do it, but she came down with a case of the throw-ups so I stepped up.  No big deal really, but my whole public speaking fear made it a little more complicated than necessary.

                                                                     

Wednesday was my final day with all my girls in Grandes A and with the two encargadas I had spent the past six months working with.  I was to leave to fly home the next day and while I would be gone a lot of changes would be taking place, namely the encargadas leaving the house and moving to Monterrey where they would start university.  As it was my last night with them, the girls and I planned a surprise of pizza and cake for dinner as well as a gift for the encaragadas.  I had made each of them a photo album with letters of thanks from the girls and gave them to them that night.  Photos are a precious commodity in the home and I used the photos I had been taking since I got to the house.  I think they appreciated it.

Ana and a few of the girls at the going away party.

Ochoa and some more in the section that night.

It was a bittersweet end and hard going to bed that night.  Over the course of my time at home (ten days) the majority of my girls would be graduating from elementary school, participating in Visitor’s Day (only of two days a year families are allowed to visit), and moving up to secundaria.  These changes also signaled a change for the year of service: some would be leaving to head to university while the newest bachillerito graduating class would be moving into the home and taking their place.  As I packed that night I was anxious about all I would be missing, but excited to see my families and friends as well.  But the outcome of all that I’ll just have to leave for my next blog post…