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On MONDAY, I got up early enough to drink tea and send off a few e-mails before seeing all of the visitors and Donna off. Then I had the house to myself. I packed to move out to the orphanage for the week and did a few loads of laundry in between cleaning up the kitchen. I bought groceries and arrived at Vanessa's place late. Regardless, I sat around and talked and read to them for quite awhile. I was about to leave, but they insisted that I stay and eat cebiche with them. How could I refuse cebiche??? So I had REAL, MEXICAN cebiche for the first time. It was spicy and delicious, despite the "raw" fish. Vanessa's mother told me that every time she makes it, she will send some over to me. I can't wait. When I got home, I finished laundry and kept an eye on the hatching chicks. The rooster flew the coop and I had to coax him back into the pen because I had no idea how to catch the stupid thing.I called some friends but had to cut one conversation short when Rod came to pick up Marlen and I for the San Pedro Kid's Club. We rode in the back of Loren's truck (Rod's van was at the mechanic's). It was very windy and dusty. We used the new benches for the Kid's Club. The class was bigger this week; Rod had motivated the children to bring friends (he mentioned prizes). Mario brought six friends and decided that he probably deserved at least two prizes. I bugged the kid about his new cell phone because: "Tengo mucho mas anos que tu tienes, y todavia no tengo un celular!" (I am a lot of years older than you and I still don't have a cell phone!). The ride home was not only windy, but also very cold. When they dropped me off at the orphanage, I quickly put on my sweatshirt. I arrived in the middle of the soccer game. I unpacked and then went outside to watch them play. We ate dinner, cleaned up, and then I went outside to watch the kids "dance" their tops. When all of the kids got ready for bed, I read my book and felt lazy.
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On TUESDAY, I woke up early and dozed off and on until the kids started getting up. I'm sleeping on the bottom bunk below MariChuy. Fernando is sleeping on a cot next to me. They both enjoy watching everything I do...I'm currently the novelty. I felt like a floater while the kids got ready for the day; I didn't really know what to do. After breakfast, Debbie and Rach put me to work in the kitchen. The groceries were late, but I managed to get all of the fish fried before lunch. Scott and Teo were making cookies to sell while I made cookies for lunch. In the meantime, Scott and I had several "discussions" while Teo's solid presence kept us in line. I tried to feed Chuy a bowlful of rice and beans for lunch, but he hardly ate anything...so I laid him down for his nap. I took my time right after lunch and spent the time reading in my room. After time off, I played with Fernando and brought in the laundry. I was folding laundry when Debbie had to leave dinner preparation to sit outside and be a presence as MariChuy and Fernando visited with their mother. So I finished dinner and oversaw clean-up afterwards. I played with Chuyito outside and hung out with the kids. I even beat Diego arm-wrestling; the cheater tried to use both hands. I talked with Maria, Roxina, Rosalina, and Suzanne and then went inside as they all got ready for bed.
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On WEDNESDAY, I got up at my new, normal time although it was my day off. I combed Rosalina's hair and ate Cheerios for breakfast. Carol eyed them jealously, but Lenn said he didn't understand why I would eat them for my day off since they weren't even worthy to eat on a normal basis. He called them some awful names, including: "over-priced" and "tasteless"!!! I was pulling a bike out of the stack when Lenn came out and offered me a ride since he was going to town anyway. How could I refuse? Deanna and I hopped on the moto and off we went to Choix. Once in Choix, I used the Internet and then walked up to the plaza to read my book. I had fun sitting in the shade a being a bum. After awhile I got very hungry and walked to Andres' to get a sope. Yum...Andres wasn't there at first, but he came momentarily. We talked as much as we could with my limited Spanish. He's a very friendly man. His wife came and I visited with her too until I was finished with my food. Afterwards, I did a little shopping and then went for a leisurely stroll before prayer meeting. Afterwards we went back to the orphanage and pretty much got ready for bed...
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On THURSDAY, I was in charge of lunch, which was very unfortunate. The start of the morning was relaxed; the children were perfect little angels and stayed outside picking guamuchiles. Eventually, we realized that the groceries were not going to arrive on time...When Ian and Diego arrived, kitchen work was a tizzy. Lunch was late; the potatoes weren't done and the green beans were crunchy. I suggested that we keep the stupid beans cooking until dinner when they might actually be edible. Debbie helped me and we started laughing off some of the stress. During lunch clean-up, I finally started to relax. I played with the kids until siesta time. I was planning to read, but my time off turned into a literal siesta time. When I got up, something exciting happened. The playroom doorknob broke and Suzanne was locked in her room. Instead of panicking, she rejoiced in the fact that maybe she would get a longer time off. Fortunately for the rest of us, Ian rescued her. After dinner, I helped with clean-up and then went outside. Leobardo was just learning how to dance his top and I had fun watching the delight in his eyes every time it hit the cement spinning. "Lo baile CUATRO veces!" (I danced it FOUR times!). That night while the girls were getting ready for bed, we talked and drank tea. Rosalina decided that she liked green tea with milk--a girl after my own heart. Rach showed us pictures on her computer.
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On FRIDAY, I did laundry. Rach showed me how to operate the two washers with the hoses and barrels to re-use the water. I was outside all morning, figuring out how to do seven loads of laundry with three washer-fulls of water (for wash and rinse water). Someone had creatively designed it, and it wasn't too hard. I enjoyed the job much more than working under stress in the kitchen. We had delicious taco salad for lunch and then I took my time-off. When I joined the rest of the world, Maria and I walked to Mochiqui. We walked and talked...I am so grateful that she knows English; a relationship can go so much deeper without the language barrier. We stopped at the little store where she bought a citrus drink. Then we visited Salvador and Enriquetta's house before moving on to study with Carla and Tita. Maria enjoyed being a teacher and I let her be in charge. It was fun to watch her blossom in her responsibility. We played games with the children afterwards until flying dirt and stones became too much. We started back to the orphanage, weary. As we were walking back, we ran into a string tied across the road. Some people were walking towards us and probably chuckled to themselves as we took giant steps over an invisible wall. But we returned the favor by giggling at them as they ran their wheelbarrow right into the string. The soccer game was in full-swing. I sat and talked with Rach and Christa. After the game we piled into the house for nachos. Miguel hid under the table when he saw me looking at the job list. Incidentally, he responsible for washing the dishes. I was in charge of Chuy while Suzanne played 4-square. He amused himself by trying to eat guamuchile seeds and other particles of dirt on the ground.
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On SATURDAY, I woke up too early, like most of the downstairs children did. Fernando and Rach left for Fernando's doctor appointment before six o'clock. I had to talk the others into falling back asleep. When they all got up, they acted a little lost without their main authority figure. I struggled with getting them around in time for breakfast. I felt that more than just being lost, they were testing my authority. I didn't enjoy that at all; it was frustrating. Miguel was in charge of breakfast dishes and hid on the shelf beside the Tupperware. At Saturday school, I made a phone call for Rach and tried to help keep a little order in the class. Santos was terribly bad and got into much trouble. I was relieved to get back to the orphanage, although my struggles did not end there. While I was delighting in the fact that I had all of my groceries and lunch would be on time for the first time since I've been in charge, we ran out of gas. Grrrrrrr... Scott quickly changed it out and lunch was relatively on time. When the boys went up on the hill, things around the house quieted down. Roxina decided that she wanted to ride the horse and she used it as her ladder to pick guamuchiles. She was so cute and having the time of her life. I played with Fernando and eventually woke Chuy. He was miraculously content to sit on my lap and play with the guamuchile pods. I had my time off then and came back in time to help finish up dinner. After dinner, I got a full slideshow of Rosalina's drawings before we all headed to bed.
This video clip is from a few weeks ago...Rod and Jesse playing guitar RANCHERO style.
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