While having coffee this morning we ran into Cali’s friend’s mom. I asked how the packing was going. She said after she talked to us last night she reconsidered leaving for Mexico for good. Instead they will go for a few weeks and look at some different towns. Then they’ll come back and figure out a timeline for moving. Whew. I can tell Cali her friend will be coming back and is just away for a few weeks. I hope that will ease the sadness.
Paul and I did a huge amount of walking today. Lots of it was related to birthday prep for Cali. I was also trying to find a couple of t-shirts and a swimsuit. We ended up walking to eight different pakas and stores that carry swimsuits. After all that I found one plain black t-shirt and a swimsuit that I would never buy if I was at home. All part of the experience. Going shopping for swimsuits down here makes one feel incredibly grateful for the selection we have back home. Bra shopping here would be a lesson in torture for any North American woman. There are some you can buy at the market, but are you supposed to try those on over your clothes amidst all the cucumbers and pinapples? Probably. Luckily, I don’t have to go there.
We took a couple out for lunch. They are doing missionary and humanitarian aid work here. Rarely do people do things for them, they mostly expect things from them. We went at 11:30 and didn’t finish talking until 3 p.m. We ended up at Dos Mundos having pasta, at a table in the courtyard by the pool. Then we went to a differnt cafe for coffee and dessert. Conversation was comfortable and lively, the time flew by.
Then we picked up Cali from the family’s house. She was in her favorite spot, the tree. Part of me is concerned what would happen if she fell out of the tree. The other part remembers how I spent most of my childhood climbing the cherry tree in our backyard or crawling around on our roof. I never hurt myself so I’ll grant her that freedom.
We bought party loot bags for the kids in her class. They seem to do that here, so we’ll follow suit. Turns out she is not allowed to have a pinata at school so she will do that with her friend. At the pinata store I asked which character she wanted to beat with a stick and she decided on a big yellow butterfly. A pinata that comes up to her shoulder costs under $5.30. We bought lots of goodies to put in the pinata, too. Cali is excited.
The older girls went to play practice and then Kier’s went to salsa dance class. On Thursdays she doesn’t get home until later, even if she doesn’t go out with her friends. Both girls brought home impressive report cards. Amazing how much studying can take place when you don’t have many extracurricular options. Madi has never taken as much initiative in her school work as she does here. I think I’ve mentioned that before. This has been a great school experience, for her especially.
Kier brought a huge stack of books home from school to take to Honduras. She thinks if she has any decent amount of downtime in the evenings she’ll potentially get through a book or two a day. It’s possible, she devours books.
Cali is treating that pinata like a beloved pet, not something she is going to beat with a stick until it hemorrhages candy. I heard her talking to the pinata, whom she has named. “Lilly,” she whispered, “I’m afraid first you are going to have surgery to put candy inside you, and then you are going to die.” After the surgery she made Lilly a bed for post-op recovery. (She watches Grey’s Anatomy with us.) I think there should be rules about not naming pinatas, the same as not naming farm animals you plan to eat. Next she packed her goody bags, so she’s all set for the big day.
Cali’s frog blog: Today I had lots and lots of fun because we went shopping for my birthday. I’m going to be 8, isn’t that old? We are celebrating my birthday tomorrow even though it’s not until Saturday for real. Today I started with Comunicasion y Lingua at school. We learned about not throwing garbage on the ground because it will mess up our environment. That’s a hard one for people to learn here because everyone throws garbage on the ground. It’s not like at home. Then we made a flower out of a soda can. It was fun and weird all at the same time. We took a can and then we had to cut the tin into strips on it and then we had to fold out the sides to make it look like a flower. Then we painted it. Mine was white with a green peace sign and blue polkadots. Then we had compu. I played Barbie.com. Then we ate and went outside. I shared my sour gum with my friend. I had two pieces so that was the right thing to do. My friend likes the green gum and wants me to bring her more tomorrow. Then we had English. The boys watched Pink Panther and the girls finished painting our flowers. Then we made a picture of a red hand. At the end of the day there was a huge paint mess. One of the guys knocked over a huge paint bowl because he didn’t like all of us. It was my friend’s and my turn to clean up the classroom at the end of the day. So that boy knocked over the paint so we would have to clean up his mess. But then the teacher told him to clean up the mess, but he was mad so he spattered it around all over the place more. So we were trying to clean that up when his brother came and got mad at him and told him to clean that up. Since his brother told him to clean it up, he didn’t do it FOR SURE. That meant it was back to square one with my friend and I cleaning up the red paint mess. Before we cleaned that up, we both had to tell our tuk tuk drivers to wait, because it would take a while and we didn’t want them to leave without us. After we finished cleaning up, I went to the family’s house. Jose isn’t being very nice to me and he spit water on me and threw my shoe up on to the roof. He makes me mad. We made tortillas and then we went to the store. Then we ate Doritos in the tuk tuk, pretending to drive it. Then mom picked me up. We went and bought my pinata. I named her Lilly and gave her lots of kisses. She is a beautiful butterfly. I’m not allowed to have a pinata at school, my teacher said, only cake. We asked the principal and she said no. So I doing the pinata with my friend. We went and got little treats for the goodie bags that I’m taking to school tomorrow. When we were walking past the store there was a huge funeral in the streets. They were carrying the body of a kid in a coffin. They were all walking to the graveyard to bury him. We carried my pinata home and people on the street said happy birthday to me. That was fun. Madi helped me stuff the pinata because she’s good at that. I’m ready to be 8, oh yes I am. I thought my friend was leaving me forever, but now she is just leaving me for a long vacation. That’s the best birthday present ever. P.S. I love you all very much.