We continue to be in a total countdown for the day Paul arrives. Everyone seems to know his day of arrival. Cali’s friend’s mom yelled to me on the street, “Cali is excited about her dad coming in two days!” Madi’s teacher at school knows, people at the church know, Kier’s guitar teacher knows, handyman dude knows.
We sent a list of what he can bring down, although it’s not lengthy. Last time we lived here, Paul had a suitcase full of items we couldn’t get down here. The younger girls would only use a certain kind of watermelon toothpaste, we couldn’t get mac and cheese down here for Madi, certain chocolate treats that we were desperate for. This time around there are fewer things which aren’t available here. Our top two requests from the motherland are 1. AfterBite (people are either immune to the bites or not as pathetic and whiney as we are) and 2. tampons, (which must be illegal here). One can buy pot or coke (not the drink) in bars here, but I’m quite certain even the black market doesn’t deal in tampons. Hopefully they won’t imprison Paul at the border for bringing them into the country. But I’m willing to take that chance (sorry babe).
The day was fairly routine, as far as days go. The older girls went to school and didn’t have any practices after school. Kier and her friends were going to get together, but then it started pouring rain. If teen plans are somewhat ambiguous, a good downpour is sometimes enough to thwart them, seeing as most of the kids get around by foot, bike, or scooter. They can also take a tuk, but since those don’t have their plastic doors on until rainy season, even a tuk ride can leave one soaking wet by the time you get to your destination. Kier decided to stay home instead.
Cali has been going over to the family’s house every day this week. Today I went to pick her up a little earlier than usual and she was downright mad. She, Laura, and the older sister Yulissa had only just finished making tortillas. She and Laura hadn’t eaten them in the tree yet. For the first time I was invited right into their home, which is one room for the eight of them. There was a tiny tortilla grill and make-shift kitchen in the one corner. They had a shelf in the middle of the room to divide off the sleeping area. I can only assume that they make beds on the floor at night. I’ll bet their kids don’t even notice the spider and bugs.
I told Cali that I would like for her to change out of her school clothes when she gets there, because her clothes are crazy dirty when she gets home. I’m not even sure we can get some of the white stuff clean again. She said the bathroom is really smelly and that the toilet doesn’t have a seat. She also said there isn’t any paper, so I will send some with her to use discretely. She got home around 6:30 and said she hadn’t eaten. She put cheese and honey on 3 of tortillas she made and ate those. She was happy, but tired.