All in all, life has been good...I treasure my time spent here and I'm trying to make the most of it because I know it won't last forever. Sure, there have been some disappointments and discouraging things, but most every day has been blessed with at least a few small wins, big laughs, good conversations, silly occurances, and fun times.
- In January I was able to go to my first Visitor's Day, which is one of two times a year the kids' families are all invited to visit the house in Miacatlan. It was a day filled with playing games with some of the kids who didn't receive visitors and I also got to meet some of relatives of the kids I love. Highlights were meeting several aunts, uncles, and cousins of the famous family here that has SO MANY cousins at NPH. They are some of my favorite people, so it was cool to meet their fam. Also, I got to meet some hilarious family members of some of the goofiest/weirdest (I say that with affection) kids and understand exactly where they get their oddball personalities from! How fun is that. I was told to expect the worst but hope for the best on Visitor's Day, since it can be a day of heartbreak for the kids who wait expectantly all day for a visitor who never arrives. I was pleasantly surprised by the maturity of our high schoolers and also by the fun in meeting some new people and telling funny stories of their kids to them. I'm looking forward to the next Visitor's Day in July.
- In February I made my decision official to commit to another six months in Mexico! I will now be coming home to stay on Christmas Day of this year instead of in July. Mexico, get used to me. North Carolina, it won't be too much longer! I realized that, in the scheme of my life, there was no way I could regret staying at NPH an extra 6 months.
- Valentine's Day was a very special day at the house with the high schoolers. My roommates and I put together little gift bags of candy, body washes, earrings, and silly bands to give to each of the kids. A huge thanks and special shoutout to everyone who helped make that night so special for the kids...to lots of friends and Winslows who donated the body washes and to Kati Berlin, who amazingly made over 75 unique pairs of earrings by hand so that each girl could receive a pair. The point was for them to feel extra loved and I think it was accomplished! Also, we went out for tacos that night with the year of service kids which was a big treat and fun times hanging out with them.
- February 16-22 was NPH's International Family Weekend....which is a large annual convention of meetings of all the national directors of the NPH houses in 9 countries along with the boards of directors, important people from the fundraising offices, big donors, and child sponsors. My job leading up to the events was that of registration coordinator, which involved keeping track of everyone's arrivals and departures, transportation, hotel reservations, making nametags, helping out with all the special events especially the godparent/godchildren stuff, and while it was going physically manning the NPH desk at the hotel for 12 hrs a day. The hotel we stayed at was gorgeous and it was wonderful to put faces to names and meet some very interesting people who are doing lots of great things. All in all, though I'm so glad it's behind us and I now know that I don't really want to be super involved in coordinating huge events like that ever again. After 2 months without a complete weekends off, I was exhausted!
- Two weeks after the Family Weekend, I got permission to work a week in Miacatlan when UNC's Chi Alpha came for their spring break mission trip! This was a huge treat because I got to spend time with some dear friends along with having the chance to spend more time with the sweet littles. One section that really stole my heart was the Grandes B boys, which are boys around 11 years old. The Chi Alpha team that visited painted their dorm and I realized some projects for my work in the Sponsorship office, including throwing a birthday party for one of the boys in Grandes B. I got sick towards the end of the week, which stunk, but it was still such a fun time!
- My birthday in mid-March was a day filled with lots of joy and tons of surprises. While I was sad to not be able to see my family, I realized that the kids and my other friends here have become like a second family to me. They showered me with love and suprises from the moment I was woken up at 5 am by several of the kids coming into my room to sing "Las Mañanitas" to me up until late that night, when I came back from dinner to find our apartment decorated with Winnie the Pooh balloons (the kids affectionately/goofily call me Winnie Pooh) and Jane's famous brownies. Thanks to everyone for a day filled with lots of love.
- Danielle's wedding was a beautiful and special time in Tepotzlan, a picturesque small town in the mountains, about an hour away from Cuernavaca. Danielle is a former volunteer who now works in NPH-Mexico's administration and was a lovely bride. She married a Mexican man, so this was my first Mexican wedding I've attended. The NPH high school students studying tourism were the waitstaff for the reception and it was great fun to share the experience of the day with them as well as lots of other friends.
- The day after the wedding, I found out I got into UNC's School of Social Work! I'm so excited that I'll be back in Chapel Hill again eventually to study in such a great program. I've deferred and I'll start school in August of 2012...which seems like forever away right now but by the way time is flying, I know it will creep up and be here before I know it.
- Matt's Surprise Visit! Matt is a sneaky guy and although before he had told me he was planning on coming to visit the first weekend in April, he later told me that his boss said it wouldn't work out. My dad convinced him to tell me he was coming on Monday of the week he came because I was naturally starting to think about what I was going to do on my weekend off. Matt showed up on Wednesday afternoon and stayed until the next Tuesday morning...almost a week! We did tons of exciting things while he was here including going to Six Flags in Mexico City with Edith and Sarah (volunteer buddies), playing soccer with the kids at the house (Matt bought some new soccer balls for them), walking around the centro some, and he even took me out to eat for a late birthday dinner at Italianni's, a delicious Italian restaurant in Cuernavaca's swanky mall. Thanks, Matt, for being so awesome. Maybe someday I'll be able to repay you for your generosity...doubtful, but we won't rule it out!
- Semana Santa and Easter is a very special time at NPH Mexico. The kids get a whopping 2 weeks off of school! Yikes! In the afternoons and nights we had really intense girls and boys soccer tournaments. In the first few games I scored a lot, which was rather exciting, but eventually our team of the "Encargadas" including female volunteers, directors, and year of service girls ended up in 4th places...err. On Thursday, we closed up shop here in Cuernavaca and all the high school kids and their posse (directors, volunteers, etc.) headed to Miacatlan for the rest of Holy Week. We arrived for mass on Thursday night, followed by dinner and more fast-court soccer action. On Good Friday we had a "prayer service" at noon (which honestly I can't figure out how it was not a mass) followed by chillaxing, lunch, and then later a Cuernavaca vs. Miacatlan full outdoor field soccer game in the blazing heat. Despite the Miacatlan girls dominating, we somehow held our own and ended up tieing 1-1...with a notable amazing performance by Edith in goal, per usual, and me scoring our only goal, yay! After soccer, we all felt like we were going to melt, so we jumped into the pool and went swimming for a bit before dinner. After dinner, roughly 500 kids all grabbed spots outside of the chapel to watch "Passion of the Christ" on a not-nearly-big-enough-to-actually-see tv. Even so, I love being there spending time with all the kids like a family. Saturday was el Sabado de la Gloria, the day of NPH's traditional house-wide water fight. We had brought some water balloons and immediately walking out of the dining hall after breakfast, no one was safe from getting soaked in the water fight mayhem. Hilarious times ensued. The fight ended with everyone jumping into the pool and swimming for a while. We all took showers and packed up and the whole Cuernavaca crew headed out after lunch. On Easter morning, while the kids went to mass, we hid eggs for a huge housewide Easter egg hunt after church. Before the hunt, though, Father Phil gave everyone a chocolate egg and we all shared donuts and hot chocolate. After the egg hunt, which included some eggs for prize money (1 golden egg, 2 silver eggs, 1 bronze egg, and 97 plastic eggs) and some real eggs filled with confetti and flour (someone definitely cracked one on my head), we took it easy and continued playing massive amounts of Scum the card game, which here we call Presidentes y Mensos, jaja.
- On Wednesday, since the kids are still on vacation from school and there is a fair going on not too far from where we live, all of the high schoolers got to go to the fair! This was a super fun treat for them, as they all were given around $13 to spend at the fair...buying clothes/jewelry/bags/*hilarious sunglasses*, getting food, or going on rides. I tried my first boli, which was yum and refreshing. Mostly I wandered around with several kids, just trying to see everything. It was a blast!
I have this weekend off so Edith, Mario, and I may try to escape somewhere relaxing....I hope we do! So that's my update on the major/most exciting things that have been going on lately.
