Father's Day, Dust Bunnies, and Viejitas

Chuy the nerd.
A very common site until July the 5th.

Roxina, Rosalina, and MariChuy making lunch on Thursday.

Fernando and me.

Trying to find the bread crumbs on the floor.

Sunday: Happy Father's Day to the best dad in all of the world! Carla and Tita sat with me during church... and were naughty. I met Rebecca; the children had been eagerly awaiting her arrival. Then I went to Mochiqui with the villagers. I helped MariCruz carry a few buckets of water from the street to her house before we came back home. We had a delicious Father's Day meal. Poor Mario had to endure American food again. In the afternoon, we left for San Pedro with a lot of Mochiqui villagers. Yesi came to church; I hadn't seen her in many weeks and I'd missed her a lot. After the service, I talked with Rebecca and then came home in the back of Loren's truck.

Monday: I drank tea and ate chocolate while I studied verbs. Then I bought groceries and went to Vanessa's house. The family was very newsy and they told me all sorts of juicy information about their lives. Alejito enjoyed the chocolate Tootsie pop I gave him; his grandma gave him a bath afterwards! During my time off, Reina's son David kept wandering into my room. I made a Tricia-fied version of lemon bars and walked over to my landlady's house to give her some. She wasn't there, but I saw some of my former neighbor boys... and I can still tell the identical twins apart (or I got lucky. LOL). I went in search of Marlen and didn't find her. But I talked with her mom instead. I saw lots of people I knew on the way home, but I hadn't found anyone I was looking for. Some days are just like that.

Tuesday: Another humid day. I did laundry and burned some snickerdoodles, which I passed out to the gringo victims on the front porch. Then I made lunch and mango cobbler. The mango cobbler was good, I guess. It was my two worlds colliding: American cobbler and Mexican mangos; it just didn't taste quite right. I made out verse posters. Someone turned the AC on in Loren and Donna's bedroom and we all hung out in there. Janessa and I walked to Marlen's house to see if she was around. She wasn't, but her uncle went to find her for us. She came soon, full of things to tell us. We lost track of time and came back "too late for supper." So we ate alone. Then I cleaned my room. The dust bunnies under my bed multiply faster than real bunnies!

Wednesday: I slept in. Then I walked uptown for a few things and back home to talk on the phone and get on the Internet. I enjoyed eating junkfood and spending time alone. I sat in front of a fan and waited for the rain to take the humidity out of the air. (I didn't know that I would have to wait until Thursday night.) I tried to take a nap, but gave up and went to eat dinner with Donna and Janessa. Every Wednesday night during prayer meeting I think of how much I missed the orphanage children from Sunday to Wednesday. After the orphanage crew left, Janessa, Rebecca, and I went along to drop off the villagers in Mochiqui. Along the way, Jorge decided that I was his grandma and spent the rest of the time calling me "nana." Janessa, Rebecca, and I went to get yogurt. Then Janessa and I attempted to make smoothies. They turned out with big chunks of ice and a kitchen that smelled like a hot blender.

Thursday: [I've been away from home for ten months.] I woke up after a pathetic night of sleep. I walked over to invite Lupita to the youth night on Friday night. When I got to the orphanage, I discovered that because some lady had donated a large chunk of meat, the twins were in charge of lunch. I was a helper. That was a switch; and a lot of fun! They worked frantically, chopping, frying, slicing, tasting... Roxina and MariChuy pulled stools up to the stove to reach the back burners. Fernando tried on a dress and I called him "mi hijita" (my little daughter) for the rest of the day. Lunch was delicious and we had no leftovers. Dear Rebecca spent a slice of her afternoon drawing pictures for the boys. After my time off, Chuy and I had the house to ourselves. I fed him bread while I made biscuits. I sat out with some visitors and watched Chuy. Debbie came home and finished the dinner Scott had started with his tuna gravy. Then came the rain. The boys ran up on the hill and the other children played in the rain until they were soaked. Debbie brought me home.

Friday: [I've been in Mexico for nine months.] I was walking my bike past Don Josecito's store when I heard Lily yell, "Subase!" (Climb on it!). I did eventually. I washed lots of smelly laundry. I helped in the kitchen and hung out with the kids in between laundry loads. Roxina sang while she hung the laundry for me. We had a delicious meal after which I biked home to use Internet and take a nap. Rebecca was at our house when I got up and so I talked with her until we left for Mochiqui. Maria and I visited Ana. We sat under the awning by the hot tortilla fire. I took my time, studying with Carla. Maria and I went to the store and she bought viejitas with Chamoy (a big sheet of ice cream cone-like stuff with hot sauce on top). Mmmm... We then hung out in the back of the truck with Alma and Jaciel until Loren, Donna, and Kyle came back. We had youth night at Rod and Christa's. Not a lot of people came, but it was fun. We played volleyball and then sat down to watch "Facing the Giants" in Spanish. Christa served us nachos. The youth really seemed to enjoy the movie. Afterwards, I helped to clean up and we came home. I stayed awake just long enough to tell Rebecca goodbye.

Saturday: We set up for Saturday school. I didn't think that class was fun or boring. It just was. I colored my picture ugly and put Ana's name on it. Domingo somehow talked me into playing soccer with him. So I was all sweaty before we even climbed into the van. The van was so full that I sat in Rhonda's lap; Chuy was jealous. After lunch, I was in charge of clean up. Domingo claimed his stomach hurt, but he still had enough energy to spray me with water. Johan warned me not to start something he would have to finish. Roxina and Fernando sat cuddled up to me on the couch until I got too hot and pushed them away. Rosalina was working on writing. She sounded out words she'd never written before; I was so proud of her! After my time-off I actually had a few minutes to talk with Rhonda until dinner. During dinner clean up we ran into a problem that exhausted me. Loren came for me right on time. He had to get gas and handed the man at the pump a large bill. The man accused Loren of having lots of money as he pulled out a wad of cash to find the correct change.