Days 29-31

7/7/13

Day 29

It's wonderful that I don't believe in jinxes, because I can say with confidence that things going as planned (or otherwise very well) is becoming a bit of a trend. Thank you, God! (However, I do believe in speaking too soon, so continued prayers are always appreciated.) On Friday, I went to the orphanage, where all of the leadership was away at a meeting and the kids were on vacation, so I felt they could use the extra hands. We spent the whole time on the playground, where I pushed swings, investigated screams, gave little improvised time-outs, and sat in the shade with kids in my lap. Best part-- a few f the kids and I started playing a game where they tried to climb up the yellow slide, and I kept pushing them back down. After the kids ate, I picked up some snacks for lunch on the way to the mall, where I found some summer reading type practice books for each kid. Then, I headed to the church to fix the paint colors like I wanted, marked the walls, and made an example for how the wall is supposed to look-- also a handy lil piece of art to take back to my house with me!

7/8/13

Day 29.5

Oh boy am I behind... anyway, on Friday, I prepped for the painting, then joined Santi upstairs for the end of the kid's club-- he was in the middle of painting faces, and I joined him. After that, Santi took the older kids and me to the Friday night bible study. We went to the house of a couple that had a big, ridiculously friendly dog, I think a pitt, which made Santi's wife nervous as she was holding her napping, incredibly dog-phobic two-year-old. Though the dog very politely sat by his owner, who held his collar, I could still feel Santi's wife's discomfort, and as I tried to signal the owners to take the dog out of the room, I had an epiphany: I have American concerns and an American way of loving people. And that's not necessarily a bad thing, just something good to know. Hm. Anyway, we went to feed people in the city and didn't get home til almost 1am. It was almost midnight before I realized that Andrea didn't know where I was (I had missed her calls during the Bible study), but basically, she had figured, so she wasn't having a heard attack or anything. Pretty successful day, if I do say so m'self. And I do.

Day 30

On Saturday, Gloria and the kids were busy, so we couldn't go to visit as planned. Instead, Andrea and I went to the Mercado Artesenal, and I did most of my gift shopping. I love that place. So many awesome handmade things. Petato was able to join us, which was great, though I feel he was a lil bored as Andrea and I did our girly shopping thing. Then, we all went back to  the church to paint. Painting was great, except that the small, well-trained group of volunteers kept expanding as people arrived late, which was both really helpful and hard to manage. People who didn't understand The System were jumping right in anyway, but Santi and the others helped me keep the whole project on track. The walls look great—ridiculously colorful and all. I told them they could all come back today-- Monday-- to help with the fine tuning and next steps, as they're all on vacation now. Then, Santi dropped all of us off at Andres's house for his surprise birthday party. Later in the evening, Andrea (who had left painting to take Petato to the bus) called and Santi told her to come to the party-- she said something like 'we'll see' and hung up. Apparently she tried to call later to get directions to the party, but neither Santi or I our phones on us. Which was unfortunate. Anyway, I got home about midnight, and as I still don't have keys (the father seems to have absconded with them), that makes the second night in the row of having to ring the doorbell in the middle of the night, which is sucky. But Andrea didn't seem mad or anything.

Day 31

Yesterday marked about halfway through my time here, which is weird. On the way to pick up the grandmas for church, we tried to figure out how I was gonna get to the South to visit the kids that afternoon, as Andrea and Petato both had some serious homework. Angelica thankfully volunteered to go with me, though! At church, I talked to Pastor Milton (Santi's dad), who said that they in fact did have a connection to a church in the south-- 'not Baptist, but one of healthy doctrine' (I didn't feel it was a good time to interject that I'm also not Baptist, but of healthy doctrine, though I was tempted)-- anyway, I was really happy because there's a possibility of getting them rooted in this church, but also because it might be an opportunity to find someone to help with the kids' homework. After stopping by the mall to pick up a book and some picture frames for the photos I printed, we hopped on a bus-- well, three buses-- to go South. We arrived at the big mall where we met before, but since Gloria and the kids were just leaving the house, we had some time to look for a place to eat that wasn't mall-priced. Several blocks away, we found a restaurant with a good deal on a whole chicken combo, and we waited. It took the family quite a while-- over an hour-- to arrive, so Angelica and I got to talking a little bit, which was nice. Finally, the fambam arrived, and we shared hugs and food. Afterwards, I gave them their gifts, and the mom was really, really happy with the photos. We then headed to the arcade in the mall. The place runs on reloadable cards that you swipe at the machines-- weird-- so I bought a card for each adult, and the kids ran around playing with us and each other for awhile. It was pretty fun. Before leaving, we stopped by a school supply place for crayons and pencils-- I'd forgotten to include this with the coloring book and workbooks. On the way home, Angelica and I talked about boys and our daddy issues; I was really honored that she opened up to me, as she probably thinks I'm a weirdo in a lot of ways. I think we humanized each other a bit in that moment, and I hope that I was able to help with some of what she's going through. An uncle met us at the bus station to take us back to Abuela's house, where the whole family was gathered. I witnessed the most incredible thing: the whole family-- from great grandma to 17-year-old Angelica-- gathered in the living room to figure out the monthly bills together. Now, this is two households, but one family, and they calculate the expenses, reprimand each other for the high energy bills, and then decide who is going to contribute what. It was kind of fantastic. I tried picturing my mom's face if I suggested something like this, but it was literally impossible. As we were leaving, the lovely great-grandmother said something about being frustrated with her age, and I adamently insisted that I wanted to be old, that I would trade her places, that she was beautiful, etc. Maybe she believed me. Maybe it was a good moment for her. Home. Sleep. Done.