I went outside to read over the teaching manual (that didn't last long in the heat even though I told my host mom I liked it when she questioned whether I should be in the sun haha). Tried the 5 finger rule that kids use to see if a book is the appropriate reading level for them... Failed miserably. Then mi Mama's grandkids and a friend took me to the park. We raced, swung on swings, played tag (my sandals are falling apart already...), played hand games, took pictures with my phone and then visited a cemetery. That got really uncomfortable... There was a a ceremony going on of some sort and a few people were crying and many just standing around a grave. The kids just kept getting close and peeking in. They tried to get me to go closer but I couldn't. I don't think that's actually disrespectful here but it felt wrong. I should've just told them I didn't feel comfortable because it's not my family but I didn't think of the right words until after (of course).
After we got back, I watched my host mother cook. I was supposed to help but I had gotten back too late (damn it! Next time..). She explained to the kids that I'm still learning and that talking, sharing, and being patient will help me learn faster. And because she is sharing her food, home, and love, that we are family and I am her daughter :D I also met her other daughter, the aunt of the two kids here. The kids' mother is apparently 24 too. But I swear the daughter said she is 10 years old. Which would mean... Yea. Maybe I'll meet her tomorrow. I asked my host mom if the kids are here every weekend and she said no, she's normally alone. But the kids' father doesn't have a job so they have no money. Every once and a while her daughter will just drop the kids off for the weekend and she takes care of them. Like she seems to do for everyone else in the world. What an incredible woman. Have I mentioned yet how much happier I am here then in Pantoja? Ugh. Luckily the weeks following CBT are crazy and I won't be there much longer when we return. That's crazy to think about though.
I ate lunch and had the best juice in the whole world (no clue what it was but I plan on asking my Spanish teacher tomorrow). I had homemade papas fritas, rice, beans, vegetables, and chicken. THERE WAS AN ACTUAL CHICKEN FOOT TOO. haha I freaked out and told her I had never seen that before let alone eaten it! She laughed so hard at me and said it's totally normal here :)
At 2 I left to go work on our community diagnostic. We met with a bunch of kids from this street and asked them questions about school. One girl even wanted to write down all the answers for us. Win! They then went crazy with pictures but we had to go keep working. Goodness I hate how much work we have. And I can't wait to be in my site just porch sittin' and coffee drinkin' for the first two months. I think I'll save all my work for that last third month ;). Anyways, we got a lot done but there's still more. I scripted my part of the presentation when I got home so that we can meet with David to practice and he can correct our mistakes before Monday. When I got home, a bunch of the kids wanted to go to the park and play. It was so hard to say no but I had to get my work done... Dinner was cheese with onions and banana peppers and plátanos haha. And more of that juice! She then fed 6 children. I looked up a word and said to her, "¡Tu alimentas el mundo!" ("You feed the world!"). She laughed and said she loves to. If anyone passes by her house she yells out, "Are you hungry?" And she feeds them. She's usually alone here and always has food to spare so no one goes hungry, Gracias a Dios. :)
Finishing up dinner and then finishing up my script (almost), I decided to go shower. While I was trying to work a medium sized bucket with the big bucket (totally didn't fit and I didn't have the normal small one so I used a Ziploc bag to fill the medium bucket lol), I watched as a line of ants moved along the wall. I then saw about 8 ants surrounding a dime-sized piece of food and bringing it up, circling as they went. The ants stayed holding onto the perimeter and were able to sustain it's weight on a completely vertical wall... I thought about all the stuff I complained in my head about today (hate admitting this). My shoes, not having enough time to play with kids, the ants ruining my two suckers that the kids gave me, my lack of Spanish, etc. But then as I showered with the ants, I thought, "Dear God, at least I'm not an ant!" Haha I hate them and constantly feel like they're crawling on me (which they usually are here) but dammit it do I respect them. That life must suck. I wonder if they know it sucks... Yup, I'm losing it. Time to go to bed! Buenas noches!
Surrounded by kids....that's what you were always meant to be!
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