Another Pin on the Map: Busy Days!

The days are full which make them go by quickly. This is the only sort of journal I have been keeping (unless you count pictures on Facebook), but it's sometimes hard to remember all that I did each day. Friday afternoon, Danyelle and I met up at Hipermaxi to buy some ingredients for cake (one of the boys has a birthday this week) and lasagna (Danyelle wanted to make it for the girls). She brought two of the big girls, Jhosi and Abi with her, and I brought baby Samira. After shopping, we went out to lunch. It was the same place we went the day before. The girls liked the food, but were much more interested in watching the tv!

I worked an afternoon shift at the baby home later that day. After waking up, the kids eat dinner and then have the rest of the night to play. They went to bed by about 7:15pm, which is pretty early. Tía Rosi and Tía Eli worked the night shift, and after the kids went to sleep, we had tea together and they wanted to see pictures of my friends and family... so, they may have seen pictures of you! It was fun getting to know them a little better!

Saturday was pretty busy. Carlee, Danyelle and I went back to La Cancha. While we were out, we also went out to lunch. We went to a restaurant that had hamburgers/french fries. It was pretty good and nice to have a taste of home! We're big on soup at the baby home, so it is always a treat to have something different. We also went back to Globos for ice cream.

My favorite part of the day was the baby washing. Every Saturday, volunteers set up tents in one of the plazas, and mothers bring their children to the tent to have a bath. For most of the kids, it is the only bath they get each week. It's kind of like an assembly line. The kids line up outside the tent, undress and are brought to one of three bath tubs inside the tent. After getting a bath, someone else dries them off, and then they get to choose a new outfit. Outside the tent, hair is fixed, and I think they also received a new jacket this week. It was one of the craziest experiences I have ever had. The kids didn't look that filthy (well, a lot of them had pretty dirty hands/feet) to me, but the water was black after each child. It's so hard for me to imagine only taking one bath a week. A few kids were pretty unhappy about everything, but so many of them were so excited about getting a bath. They played and splashed in the water and wanted to help us shampoo their hair. I only saw a few of the mothers at the end, and they seemed happy too. I'm hoping to go back many more times!

This morning, Sunday, I had the wonderful idea to take not one, but two kids to church... alone! The tías were a little concerned and wanted me to take a taxi. I insisted on taking a trufi, and it was a little stressful but we did make it to church and back! I, however, greatly underestimated the time it would take to get a 3 month old and 2 year old dressed and ready for church and also the time it would take us to get to/from the trufi. I was lucky enough to have the baby in the sling, but poor F. was drug along behind me most of the way. Many people on the street wanted to ask me about my "hijas" (daughters), and several people in the trufis were kind enough to help all of us get on/off safely. I couldn't be more proud of how those two behaved all morning though! Baby V. slept for most of the time and when she was awake, she never made a sound. Taking a two year old out is never an easy task, but F. was pretty perfect too! We sat with Jennifer and Jake, and they mostly kept her entertained. She did entertain herself for awhile at the end though.

This afternoon, I had my first shift at the boys' house, but it didn't involve much... that should be different next week though! The girls' house was out of water all day, so they came over to the boy's house. After lunch, they spent some time playing outside, and then everyone came in to watch a movie. I think I've written before about what a treat it is to watch tv because they don't do it much. After dinner, the girls went home, and I ended up going back with them. Right after everyone was ready for bed, there was a really bad wind storm and it knocked out the electricity. Several of the girls started crying and were scared. Poor Toby, the dog, was trapped in the bathroom, and he wasn't happy either! When it let up a little, Tía Roxana helped me get a taxi home. I'm happy to report it was my first normal taxi driver! Woohoo! (Although, I should say that the first taxi she got for me tonight was a no-go... the taxi driver wanted to charge me too much and when she suggested a lower price, he got mad and drove off... so it was actually the second taxi she flagged down.) I made it back to the baby house and will probably get to bed soon. I'm so tired!