¡Hoy es viernes!

¡Hoy es viernes! ¡Es viernes! ¡Es viernes! ¡Es viernes! Senora Deirmingian’s song from Archmere’s Spanish classes is definitely appropriate this week. I even feel like doing the dance. And to think this was probably the shortest week I’ll ever have. Yikes.

I started work on Tuesday in Sala Uno at Solomon Klein. The first day was, in a word, awkward. While I immediately fell in love with the kids, I constantly felt like I was in the way of the mama’s and university volunteers who already knew the kids and their daily routine. My nerves and uneasiness about the situation made my Spanish skills that much worse too. It was somewhat repeated again on Wednesday because the pair of mama’s in the sala rotates every other day, so I had to re-introduce myself to the other set of mama’s and get a feel for what role they wanted to me play in the daily routine versus what the other mama’s had expected. But a rundown of the day generally goes something like this:

8:30am – I arrive. The kids have just finished desayuna (breakfast) and are all lined up on colorful plastic mini-toilets in the cleaning/changing room while the mama’s change/bathe about three kids at a time. For the first few kids I monitor the room, make sure the kids stay on their toilets, don’t touch what’s in the toilets, etc (this is generally when I’m really glad I’m wearing a smock). After a few kids are done I go out into the playroom to monitor the ones who are all clean and ready to go with one or two university students.

10 – 11:30am - around this time all the kids are finally changed and ready to go. Most days we just stay around the sala and play with the toys (juguetes), do their morning activity (usually just singing along to songs and getting them to dance/walk around). Although on Thursday we took them to the park across the street, which sounds simple enough, but getting 23 one year olds to cross a street when Bolivian cars don’t stop for any pedestrians (even children) and keeping them located where we wanted was quite a feat.

11:30 – noon – we set up and feed them lunch (almuerzo), which is the same rice/chicken/carrot soup every day. As they finish they are wiped off and put in their cribs for their afternoon nap.

Noon – 2pm : while the kids nap, the mama’s and I clean up from lunch (wash the dishes, mop the floor, clean the tables), eat lunch ourselves, and then spend about an hour sorting clean clothes and cloth diapers. On Wednesday I learned how to fold a cloth diaper – I would equate it to something along the lines of origami.

2pm – as the kids wake up they go through a similar bathing routine as when I arrive in the morning, but this time I’m generally finishing the end of the laundry and then just playing with the kids as they come out.

2pm – 4om: the kids do their afternoon activity. Monday it was playing with plastic fruits and vegetables, Tuesday it was riding bouncy-rubber horses (caballos), Wednesday it was playing with little balls (pelotas), and today it was making music with mariachis.

4pm – when I’m supposed to be able to leave, but I have generally been sticking around until about 4:15/4:30 to help set the kids up for dinner and get them all in their seats at the tables before I leave. I have a hard time leaving right at 4 when I can see that the mama’s need the help and I don’t really have anywhere to be besides taking a nap.

Needless to say, by the time I’m done my day at 4:30 and make it home by a little before 5, I’m pooped. Thursday was the worst because the kids skipped nap time, which had me exhausted because I was left outside with all 23 kids for about 30 minutes while the mama’s folded the clean diapers since they couldn’t do it while they were napping. (Sidenote: they will not be skipping naptime again, I clarified, it was because all the mama’s had a meeting at 6pm and they needed the kids to sleep through it).

Some afternoons I’ve done some venturing around the neighborhood, gone to the grocery story, taken a micro bus downtown and walked around, and Thursday I just vegged out because I could hardly move. I think I deserved it. I’m looking forward to Jordan being on a similar schedule that I am (one he starts doing translations next week and doesn’t work as much at Nazareth) and not having to fill 4 hours by myself in the evenings before he gets home.

But I love the kids already. I have about 2/3 of their names down (Omar, Jose Carlos, Juan Carlos, Jonathan, Maria, Adrian, Navian, Nadia, Edson, Gisel, Benjamin, Liseth, Andres, Jose Armando, Brittani…and a few others I can remember occasionally), I think by the end of next week I should definitely have them all. Omar is definitely the favorite of almost everyone who walks into Sala Uno. It’s hard not to love that kid. He has the cutest smile and loves to dance and is pretty much happy 90% of the time. I have a few other favorites too, but as the days go on I find that getting a laugh or a smile out of any of them is just about the best feeling in the world.

The hardest kid for me to adjust to was Benjamin (which they pronounce BEN-HA-MIN). I actually just heard his story on Wednesday and it definitely changed my attitude toward him a bit. He only has one eye and is partially blind in that eye. Apparently, his mother got pregnant while her husband was out of the country and decided she didn’t want the kid so she thought she would kill him by gouging his eyes out. This, obviously, did not kill him though and instead he was rescued and brought to Salomon. Benjamin is a huge troublemaker, always pushing other kids and wanting lots and lots of attention. If he doesn’t get his way he thrashes himself around on the floor and creates quite a scene. However, I’ve discovered that if I give him a little hug and attention I can get a laugh out of him just like any of the others. Although, there are definitely still times I have to punish him. He is my first heartbreaking story that I’ve heard – although I’m fairly certain about 99% of the kids in Sala Uno (and in Amanecer in general) have heartbreaking stories.
Although I was hesitant to work with such young kids, I couldn’t be happier with what I’m doing. And while I don’t get to use much of my Spanish during the day while they’re around (aside from commands, which I’m getting really good at, like “baile” (dance!), “sientate” (sit!), “camine!” (walk!), I get to talk to the mama’s while we’re eating lunch and folding laundry for about 2 hours in the afternoon. Right now it’s a lot of me listening to what they’re saying to each other, but I’m hoping to start participating more in the conversation as I get more comfortable.

The other thing that made my week particularly short was that both Wednesday and Friday I missed about 2-3 hours of work because we were running around the blood bank and other government places to get our permanent visas. They have a lady helping us do it, which according to Jordan is new since he got here, that I’m extremely thankful for because I know for sure I would have gotten both confused and lost by now. Next Thursday we should finish the process and be good to go!

I’m looking forward to a relaxing weekend. Tomorrow Jordan and I are going to explore the Cancha (the crazy market that has everything from cell phones (which I need), to clothes, to food, to llama fetuses (so I’m told), to arts and crafts). I’m sure I’ll have quite a vivid description of my own to give after we visit. And tomorrow night we’re having a volunteer dinner with all of the Amanecer volunteers. Should be a great weekend, hopefully I’ll have some time to make some skype-dates in the near future so let me know when you’re free and we can work something out (for those of you who don’t have my skype name it’s “kaloser” – don’t ask, it’s a long story, but I needed something unique to set me apart from all the other “Katie Weber’s” on skype).

¡Tengan un buen fin de semana! (Have a great weekend!)