Birthday

I have to give it to the Rancho Santa Fe: they sure know how to make a girl feel special on her birthday. I was awakened by the sound of my Pilares singing the Spanish birthday song (“Las Mañanitas) outside my bedroom window at 5:30 a.m. I then headed to hogar at 6:00 a.m. so Fanny Nicol could do my hair. She did all the hair for the quinceañeras and I’ve been asking her to do mine for a long time; it seemed only fitting that she should do it for this my treintañera. She created the most elaborate updo I’ve ever seen (photos to be posted on Facebook). I sat with my head down for half an hour while she did three upside-down connected French braids. It was topped off by a loopy, flowery bun on top and secured with mountains of bobby pins and hairspray. It was definitely a labor of love, and it didn’t hurt my feelings at all to be told how beautiful it was all day.

The day was full of wonderful surprises. Everyone seemed to know it was my birthday, and everywhere I went people greeted me with felicidades. The second I arrived at the school, Kenia and the first graders serenaded me with “Las Mañanitas.” The music teacher showed up to second grade with his guitar, and they sang to me as well. My little Jeison sang a poem. There were phone calls from Magda, Camila, Stefan, Laura, and a mystery man, and texts from Dixi and Leila. Dori and Xiomara both brought me chocolate treats, and the lady who runs the little caseta that I always go to for my morning snack gave me a 1.5 liter bottle of Pepsi! The little girls in Hijas de María drew me a picture and wrote me a letter in which they also warned me that I would be getting egged, but I miraculously managed to avoid that all day.

One funny thing I’ve learned about Hondurans is that they really like surprises, but they’re really bad at them. I started to suspect something after school got out when Xiomi went to get water and didn’t come back for an hour. When she finally did come back, she was clearly trying to keep me occupied until 3:00 finally rolled around and we still hadn’t eaten lunch. We went to the third grade classroom where all the Montessori teachers were waiting to surprise me. They had prepared gringas, tacos, and lots of other treats. Momo brought a huge chocolate cake as well. Micaela, Xiomara, Kenia, and Momo gave a toast of sorts and all said very lovely things that made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. And they sang “Las Mañanitas.”

My hogar has had me suspecting something for days. Tía Mirna said she wouldn’t be there for my birthday because she had to run errands, and Tía Delmy said she had to go to a training. The girls said we’d be alone and it would be boring, but to bring my camera (???). This afternoon, Saravia insisted the tías wouldn’t be there but said she had to keep me busy until 7:00 (???). So it wasn’t so much of a surprise when I showed up to a darkened comedor and was greeted with shrieks, squeals, confetti, and another rousing chorus of “Las Mañanitas,” but it certainly didn’t take away from anything. The tías and girls from all the hogares of the upper house had made fried chicken, rice, salad, and cake. Gloria (who isn’t even in my hogar) gave a little speech all in English that made me cry. After tucking the girls in for the night, I headed home. As I passed the darkened windows of Talita Kumi, I was once again wished a happy birthday and many more.

I came home to take my hair down, take a shower, and go to bed. But around 9:00, I was roused by the unmistakable sound of Lauren’s voice saying, “¡Vos vieja!” I came out to find a spread of popcorn, M&Ms, Skittles, piña coladas, and one of Tía Sona’s famous cakes (which read “Feliz cumple GORDITA). The volunteer crew attempted to sing “Las Mañanitas,” but it was rough going since I’m the only one who knows all the words. ;) I got a lovely card with messages from all the volunteers and many hugs goodnight.

Xiomara in school and Nancy in hogar said very lovely prayers for me, and I was mentioned in the petitions in mass the day after my birthday. And then after mass, of course, the whole Ranch sang to all the cumpleañeros…wait for it…”LAS MAÑANITAS!!”

I really thought 30 would be a bigger deal, but I don’t feel all that different. So much has happened this year and so much has changed, including me. I feel happy and I feel loved, and I have a feeling it’s just going to get better in this my fourth decade.

Fourth of July

I have to give DeeDee and Jason major props for planning an epic Independence Day celebration for the volunteer house. Sunday worked better for everybody, so we celebrated America’s birthday on the 3rd. We were requested to bring the following:
1)A winning attitude
2)Your love for red, white, and blue
We all dressed up in the colors of the flag. I snagged a killer shirt in La Isla and painted my nails to match (these colors don’t run!!). We had a bonfire on which we roasted hotdogs, and DeeDee managed to make one of those classic American flag cakes with strawberries (blue candles in lieu of blueberries) from scratch (not a box, which I had forgotten you could do). There was a fantastic USA playlist that included everything from Miley Cyrus’s “Party in the USA” to Madonna’s rendition of “American Pie” to lots of Bruce Springsteen. When we lit the candles on the cake, we sang “The Star Spangled Banner” and I’m not joking when I say it gave me chills. We followed it up with “Happy Birthday” to Pete and in Honduran tradition, we cracked eggs over his head. The night was topped off with the exiting volunteers (Jason, Sona, Max, and me) tearfully singing along to “Leaving on a Jet Plane,” soon joined by Tiffany and Pete, the rest of our original group who are choosing to extend their stay. All in all, another great out-of-the-country 4th of July (my fifth!).

Things I AM Going to Miss…

Feeling guilty about the last post, I have composed the following…

1. Tucking my girls in at night, with hugs, kisses, and “Te quieros.”
2. Feeling like a rockstar as I walk around the Ranch and have my name yelled.
3. Hot tea from the kitchen.
4. 3 month-old Ricardo falling asleep on my chest after his bottle.
5. Being called Tía Kimmie.
6. Bantering with Kenia at school.
7. Visiting the conses in the baby house with Saravia.
8. Cokes and tortillas con quesillo in the caseta at school.
9. Natalia telling me I’m her mom.
10. Mass. (I know, but I really like it.)
11. Cheap movies from La Isla.
12. Living simply. That one blue plastic plate has lasted me all year for all my meals.
13. The sound of cracking nits (lice eggs) between my thumbnails. Don’t judge. I can now delouse someone and am thus thinking of becoming a full-time catracha.
14. Being half of Tío Richard’s conses al cuadrado. Or maybe I’m the square root?
15. The feeling of always being on somewhat of an adventure.

Things I’m NOT Going to Miss…

As my year comes to a close, I thought I would go negative and write about what I’m not going to miss. In no particular order:

1. The smell of unwashed humanity on a skanky public bus to Tegucigalpa.
2. Tegucigalpa.
3. Community living i.e. Passive-Aggression 101 and cleaning up other people’s disgusting messes. Note: last kitchen duty this Thursday – woohoo!
4. Banging my head against the wall trying to get my students to analyze or think critically.
5. Having to do so much with so little.
6. Packages I know about that never arrive.
7. Forgetting important dates such as birthdays, which I never do at home.
8. Doing without electricity, cell service, water, or Internet at any given moment.
9. Being the Internet go-to girl for my girls during my free time because there’s no other way they can do their homework (thank you, talleres teachers). See above for more related frustrations.
10. Going hungry at work because there just wasn’t enough food.
11. Cleaning my own classroom.
12. Year-round bugs that find me inexplicably delicious. (Little known fact: my eyelids are especially tasty.)
13. Lice, scabies, and pink eye. Not that they don’t exist in the States, but I’m not as likely to get them.
14. Campañas de limpieza (cleaning campaigns).
15. Having my personal and professional life be one and the same.

I think I’m perhaps doing this because my subconscious knows how hard it’s going to be for me to leave, and focusing on everything that sucks might make it easier. But, as Mr. Gendreau used to say, it was in my craw and I needed it to come out.

27 Baptisms and 2 Baby Boys

Last week, we 27 of our children were baptized into the Catholic faith. Each of them was dressed in his/her finest, all the little girls in dresses of white. They all had a godfather and godmother. I was asked to be Natalia’s, but was unable to because I’m not Catholic. I was really honored to be asked, however. The baptisms were done by Padre Cheche, a Mexican priest and my favorite of those who give mass here, and Father Luta, a visiting priest originally from Uganda. Padre Cheche gave a really interesting explanation of baptism. He said the purpose of baptism is to wash one clean of original sin. But, he asked, are these little ones capable of sin? No, but they come into the world sinners regardless. He gave an example of a baby born with HIV. It’s not the baby’s fault, but the baby still has the disease. And we do everything in our power to help that baby cope with the illness. Similarly, he explained, these little ones are born into sin through no fault of their own, and we do everything we can to help them, which means we baptize them. I’m not sure if I’m explaining it or translating it well at all, but it was something that stuck with me. It was fun to see the kids’ different reactions to water being poured on their heads, from laughter to tears. Henry, one of our special needs boys, really wanted to play in that pool of water. I really love how steeped in tradition the Catholic church is, and it was special to be a part of an important moment in our NPH Honduras family.

In other Ranch news, our newest additions are twin 3 month-olds, Alan and Ricardo, and their 3 year-old sister Berenice (it sounds so much prettier in Spanish). They come from the nearby town of Talanga and were part of our comedor project, but have now come to live at the Ranch. The boys look like two little old men. I had my first up close and personal encounter with them today. I went up to the clinic where all new kids stay for a few weeks, and Tiffany had just prepared a bottle for Ricardo. I had the pleasure of giving it to him, which brought back my Connor nanny days. He fell asleep in my arms like a little caterpillar and managed to nuzzle his head right under my chin. I know exactly where I’ll be spending all my free time for the next six weeks.

Semana Pedagógica

So we’ve had a week off of school, and since I decided not to take vacation, I’ve been working in various capacities. For three days, I was in Casa Suyapa with Momo helping paint the Montessori classroom there. After the first day of painting everything white, I was told I would be given an easier job since I made so many “manchas” the day before. I resigned myself to adding painting to the ever-growing list of practical life-skills which I do not possess. After painting everything a light blue, Momo decided she wanted to paint a tree in the reading corner. Since I don’t draw and I also know that Momo is very particular about how she likes things, I figured I would just paint in whatever someone else designed. But that was not to be, and I ended up in charge of designing and drawing it. So I took a deep breath, embraced my inner Quinn (think: opus), and went for it. It ended up being really great, much to my surprise, and Momo was delighted with it.

When I wasn’t painting, I was working in hogar. With the tías on a retreat one day, my two girls who didn’t go visit family for the week and who aren’t in their year of service, were taking care of the younger girls. I ended up helping out in Hijas de María (girls 7-9). I’m the teacher for a lot of them, so they were pretty tickled to have my come cuidar them. The rest of the time, I was hanging out in hogar and helping with homework, the latter of which is incredibly frustrating. The talleres teachers demand homework that requires doing Internet research and printing information and images. This is difficult because Internet, electricity, and ink are all short supply here. I find it especially ironic that the computer teacher assigned a project (requiring electricity) instead of doing an exam because the power went out in his classroom that day. This is an on-site school ; it’s not like they don’t know the reality we live in. And don’t get me started on the complete pointlessness of the homework and the utter lack of associated learning objectives.

Every afternoon of the week, I spend two hours rehearsing with the modern dance group. I think I’m just really irritable because I was getting more frustrated than usual. The group leader is great, but he lacks some dance basics. He never counts in 8, the moves don’t necessarily make sense musically, and he changes the steps when he dances. I was also frustrated with my own body. I’m not 16 anymore, and it just doesn’t come as easily anymore. But the remix was great, and I’m always game for a performance. We were preparing for an intermission presentation for Saturday’s Festival de la Canción (American Idol NPH Honduras). I put on my dance team game face and danced FULL OUT, as we like to say, and was gratified with cheers of, “Kimmie! Kimmie! Kimmie!”

It’s been interesting to have a change of pace, but I think I’ll be glad to get back to my usual routine. I’m looking at about six more weeks, and I think I’m pretty much done. Little things are starting to stress me out and frustrate me and I’m missing the food and conveniences of the first world. It’s definitely not the kids; just sometimes the situation makes it hard.

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