A Chest Hug :)

April 21, 2013. I woke up around 8am and showered since I didn't last night. My host mom made me some sort of natural blended drink out of lettuce (but it was orange?). It was okay... She said that she had worked for 16 years with a woman who was vegetarian and "didn't eat nothing!" Lol but one day the woman was making an all-natural drink and my host mom said, "Let me try that!" And loved it! So bam! She made it for me because she said it's good to clean out your system. Hopefully she's right because I'm not supposed to be eating raw lettuce here (though I already have been with her haha)! Not my favorite drink thus far but that's okay; you can't win them all.
At 10am I was supposed to go to the park with a few neighbor kids but I decided against it. A lot of running and sweating sounded like the opposite of what I needed. I studied and practiced my speech instead (Mira below for a view of my hand-made materials thus far). I missed my Doña's grand kids but I also enjoyed doing nothing for a few hours each day and having quiet (although the damn roosters will never let me have complete peace). My Doña came in at one point and said she was going to the store. She tucked my head into her chest and hugged me (like you do, Gram!) while petting my head saying, "Aye mi hija" (my daughter) hahaha. I told her I loved her and she said it back ;).
She made me Sancocho for lunch which of course was phenomenal. She said (for reasons I don't understand) that it would be better for me to have instead of rice, beans, meat, and salad all separate. Most of that is in Sancocho (plus way more) but hey, if it made her feel better ;). After, I continued to study while a gorgeous little 3 year old popped in and out of my room. I gave her crayons and paper to play with but she totally enjoyed just carrying the crayons around on a paper tray rather than using it to actually color. Lol so precious.
At 2 I headed out for the Multi Uso with my group to work on our presentation for Tuesday. I think we're basically ready! One last run through with Barnel tomorrow so he can edit it all and we're off! We were there till 6pm and luckily (sorta) we missed the heavy rains. A huge part of a tree had actually fallen over in one of the neighborhoods he walked by. Crazy to think since this was nothing like hurricane season. Now that will be an adventure!
Anyways, I got home and my host mom was at church. But she left me the house key! Woo! Lol I just sat on my bed, listened to music, totally sang out loud which I'm sure the neighbors heard, and played games on my iPad. I loved every minute of it. Then Jen called! We chatted for a while and my Doña came home and made me fried cheese and fried plantains for dinner. Mmmmm. Oh! And fresh piña juice although she was upset that the piña didn't have a lot of flavor. But... It tasted delicious to me! Haha and definitely made up for that orange lettuce drink from earlier today :P She also literally ran into the kitchen to grab my dishes from my hands before I made it to the counter. Lol! I said she runs way too fast for me and we laughed together.
After I showered, I watched a show "Revelaciones" with her, tried to kill a cockroach with my sneaker but it ran too fast under my closet, and scurried into the safety of my mosquitera before it decided to come back out. Must get over this jitteriness (is that even a word?) with those damn things. I haven't even come close to seeing the last of them. My first kill will be an epic day, I can tell you that. Buenas noches!