Fiesta Week

Semana de Fiesta's! Cada dia, fue increible. Technically the party's began on Thursday, but Wednesday was full of preparation. School went well. I introduced a new game and everyone (parents included) got into it. Then I got an extra bonus for not giving homework. After lunch Cristy picked us up to go to the beach with the group from Vanderbilt. Soon after we began our thanksgiving shopping trip! There was no way that we were missing thanksgiving, so we picked up all the necessities. Thursday was our cooking day! The entire day we worked on our turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, biscuits, and 3 pies. All from scratch. Granted, we had a lot of help from Eddy, but it was quite a process. I also managed, while peeling potatoes, to peel my finger. Don't worry, I got no blood in them. At five the group showed up. We had our adopted children over including Geni, Paco, Denia, and a new addition- Wilmer. Wilmer is so adorable and was so excited to be there. He never, ever stops smiling. Cristy and Meily both came as well as an old volunteer Carlos. Our last invitee was David. It was such a fun night and I ate more than I have in years. Everything turned out so well it was exciting! We loaded up food for the kids and then were excited to see that Geni has definitely made an improvement in his bulk. Everyone ate a ton and we still had leftovers, but that is what Thanksgiving is all about. All my worrying was for nothing. Later we played spoons and everything was just perfect.

Friday we began our day with our next party. It was graduation for the kinder kids and sixth graders. We got there at 9 am and watched as first the kinder kids and then the sixth graders walked down the little aisle. Everyone was dressed up so well! All of the graduates were in blue dresses and dress shirts, and the attendees were dressed up as well. Waldy was the cutest thing I have ever seen. She had her hair pulled back and a princess dress on and was absolutely glowing. Each of us was the madrina/ padrina of one of the kids. Natalie was madrina of Christian, one of the kinder kids, and Ethan and I were both Geni's padrino's. As a present we gave him a photo album with some pictures in it, as well as some spending money. When his name was called we presented it to him, took a photo, and then at the end Geni and I danced a waltz. It was a really fun experience. The last part was eating! I ate about a second thanksgiving meal worth of food. The entire ceremony was over at about 1, so the three of us went swimming with Cristy and Meily in the river. We went to a lodge area with an enormous rock to jump off of. It was extremely enjoyable as well. Next stop was back to the hogar to hang out with the kids. The Vanderbilt group set up some activities to do, including an ice cream station, bowling, and cookie decorating. Our last thing on the agenda was practicing Michael Jackson's Thriller dance until late hours of the night.

We finally went ziplining today! Well, the others did. They loved it. I just joined for the second part, since I've been ziplining before. We laid in the hotsprings for hours. It was extremely relaxing and just as pretty as I remembered. The company drove us back to La Ceiba in a zebra painted pick up truck. We were all in the back and just as we started leaving, it began to pour. We were drenched and the truck flew down the road. The rain pelted us but we couldn't stop laughing. One part however was absolutely horrifying. When we got into Ceiba, there was a dog walking down the side of the road. All of us were assuming that the driver was going to swerve around it, but instead he made an effort to swerve towards it. For a minute my heart stopped because I thought he hit it, and Natalie and I both gasped. Thankfully, right after we passed we saw that he was fine, and it was even a little funny because the dog ran after us barking. I still can't believe it, and I had no idea what I would have done if he had hit it. Hardly anyone treats animals well here. The dogs are all starving, get kicked and hit, and are targets for cars. Horrifying. Driving down the main street from Ceiba in our zepra painted pick up was also kind of amusing. I don't know a better way to scream 'tourist' than that right there. I definitely heard some laughs, but it was fun. We got back, did some last minute practice, and then headed over to the fiesta at the Hogar for the night. It was the monthly fiesta for all of the kids with Birthdays, which was Carlos and Carolina this month. We got Carlos some marbles and a soccer ball, and Carolina a pair of sandals. They were both thrilled. It was quite the noche de talento. Rosa hosted the entertainment. Some of the highlights included Joel's dance to Billy Jean, which was one of the funniest, cutest things I have seen. Sherlin sang to Shakira which I personally thought was pretty good. She was so sassy, and she sang perfectly most all of the words, even though they were extremely fast. Mercedes also sang, and my favorite part was simply to watch her face and see how happy she was to be up in front and performing. Santos, Lula, and Angelo all sang Barney's "happy family" song, which was precious as well. Our performance went well, all things considered. I mean, after Joel's Michael Jackson- there was no way we could compete. ;) The night ended really fun, with everyone there just dancing and jumping and laughing. I still can't Punta (the dance that the kids all do), but I was enjoying jumping up and down. I love to watch Rosa dance, because she lights up when she hears the music. She can move and get into it, and her smile is so big. I love seeing her like that, because many of the times she is more reserved. Some of the kids were really out of sorts because it was the Vanderbilt group's last day. Poor Patricia was crying the entire night, and Reina was close to tears much of the time as well. Even Rosa shed a few as the night ended. All that we can hope is that in some way, someone was changed for the better through the meeting, because you never what impact you can make.