Oh boy, what a day this has been! I’m quite exhausted, and am enjoying some peace and quiet this evening before I open the library in thirty minutes. My day began with last-minute plans to make Christmas cards with the Jugue kids for their sponsors in the US. I spent a frantic half-hour before 8:30 planning and creating card layouts and materials that would be appropriate and fun for ten 3-4 year olds. We only finished them half way this morning, but they look really great so far - I’m so excited! I find great delight in doing arts and crafts with kids. After the Jugue I began the dreaded task of hand-washing my laundry. It had been piling up for a long time and knew it would be at least a 2 hour task. At least I got to practice my Spanish by chatting with one of the girls who was cleaning the laundry room. The afternoon was busy as Jenna and I attempted to get the sizes of all the Jugue kids so we can shop for their Christmas clothes tomorrow. We had some unforeseen medical complications, too. Sandra Deisy, one of the cutest 2-year-olds in the world, got herself a giant abscess on her back that we had to "curar," and then Maria Esther somehow spilled boiling water on her leg and got a huge 2nddegree burn. Poor thing. Despite everything, I’ve been in blithe spirits all day!
We’re entering the very busy holiday season now, and Jenna and I are going a little crazy trying to figure out how to run this show on our own. We’ve gotten past Halloween, which took about a week to prepare for and a week to recover from. We had a huge party on the 31st that the volunteers planned and hosted single-handedly. It was fun, the girls loved it, but boy oh buster did it take a lot out of the four of us, manning 120 girls that crazy night! We put the high schoolers in charge of creating a haunted house, which I then went through several times with terrified little girls. It was interesting…I had suggested that the high-schoolers use corn starch to whiten their faces for effect, which they did, but they also decided to throw corn starch on us as we stumbled through the house with screaming girls hanging on our arms. Each time I emerged from that haunted house I was more frazzled and white. It was all very entertaining!
Now, with Halloween behind us, we are looking ahead to Christmas. I’m in charge of writing a newsletter for everyone in the US somehow connected to the Hogar, and Jenna and I are both responsible for getting all the girls to make Christmas cards for their sponsors. Everything must be sent out by the beginning of December, which is quickly approaching! The other fun but daunting pre-Christmas task is measuring all of the girls and buying new clothes for them. We still need the sizes of 80 girls, and so we spend our afternoons tracking them down all over the Hogar. Because the volunteers are the ones who make Christmas gifts possible, we have to rely on our families (who are fundraising for us back home – THANKS DAD) to send us money. Then we can begin the actual shopping. We get the clothes and other gifts at a giant open air mall in Santa Cruz, about an hour away. We’ll make our first trip tomorrow morning, and continue shopping throughout November. Our very optimistic goal is to be finished by December 1st.
I’ve been getting along well these last few weeks, but here and there I have really crummy day. Such was last Friday. I had finished working for the day and had locked myself in the library to gather my emotions. It was peaceful for about ten minutes when I began hearing the girls making a bunch of commotion outside the door. AHHH.. can’t they leave me alone for one second??! That was all I could think in my weary, down-trodden state. I got up in a huff and yanked open the door. Then, I watched as ten little girls paraded in with beautiful bouquets of flowers and little instruments, stood in a row before me, and began singing! Immediately my eyes were brimming over. Needless to say, I felt horrible for my prior thoughts. When they finished singing a few songs, they presented me with their bouquets and I explained my “tears of joy” (Flight of the Concords, anyone?). This is the kind of thing that happens at the Hogar when times get tough. Isn’t it beautiful? I am increasingly enchanted with this place.
Recently I’ve been ecstatic to be spending more time with the high-school girls. Since the beginning my relationships with the younger girls have developed easily; kids have a knack for making you feel comfortable no matter what. Admittedly, though, the high-school girls are a little rougher around the edges…they’ve had hard lives and they’re really tough. I never really knew how to approach them, but I’m happy to say I’ve recently broken down that barrier with a topic of conversation that has proved quite successful: BOYS. They’re all boy-crazy, of course. Why hadn’t I thought of this before? Anyway, I have loads of fun teasing them, and they love it. It’s a good start to some wonderful friendships. Oh, and word somehow spread that I have five brothers, so I keep getting grilled about you, Dave, Dan, Ben, Nate, and Tom - you have many Bolivian teenage girls vying for your hand in marriage. Not kidding – one girl was calling me “sister-in-law” the other night. I’m getting such a kick out of it! Thomas, they’re especially fond of you. Seventeen is the right age for them, I guess. Anyway, I’m really glad that summer vacation is just now beginning so the girls and I will have more time to hang out and goof off.
Last night I attended my first Kindergarten graduation ceremony. I won’t go into my thoughts on the absurdity of the whole ordeal, but Jenna and I went as the “parents” of our three graduating Kinder girls, Deysi, Eva, and Naimelin. We had a lovely time with them! There they are on the right enjoying the lolipops we got them as we waited for the ceremony to begin. We all got a little antsy after it lasted for more than two hours, but it was a good bonding experience. Jenna and I have grown very close with the girls, having tutored them everyday these last few months. In February when school starts again, we’ll begin our new batch of Kinder girls – Moira, Aide, Lulu, and Jordana. I’m somewhat intimidated by this group! They’re all from the Jugue, so I know each of them very well. When I think of tutoring them and getting them ready for school, I imagine the tantrums they are capable of throwing. They’re still so young, the poor things, and they don’t know how to control their emotions. I know I´ll have a great year with them, but it might be rough in the beginning - I will most likely resort to candy bribing for my own sanity.
Before I run, let me quickly introduce Pepito, the one and only boy in our orphanage. I´m very fond of him, and he´s become more attached to me since I ¨mothered¨ him after the traumatic draining of a big abscess on his neck. Pepito is 4 now, and will stay at the Hogar until he´s 5, at which point he´ll transfer to a boy´s orphanage. For now, he shares his days with fifteen little girls. He doesn´t seem to mind, though. It´s pretty sad when I see him in pink pants or lacy shirts - the kids have to dress themselves and some days he just doesn´t have many options. I greatly encourage his imagination when he pretends different toys are pistols and rifles, and I play up the gore and sound effects when he mauls me with his weapons. It´s such a relief to see him acting like a boy! I also love it when he´s a little gentleman. He will give up his chair for one of the little girls or rush over to help me carry something. Whenever we go outside, one of his favorite activities is picking flowers for all the girls, one by one. I find this so adorable! One of the greatest things about Pepito is his smile. His four front teeth on the top are rotted away, and the only visible ones left are those big pointy ones on top. Everytime he looks up at me and grins, all I can think about his Dracula. This little guy is so amusing and I'm really glad he'll still be at our Hogar for the rest of my year here.
Time to go attend to the girls who have now entered the library. Adios! I just realized the origin of that farewell - it means "to God." How beautiful! Much better than "chau." Too bad they don't use it here.
