A few special moments (Britney)

Natalie, Dan, Tanner and Preston got back from their big trip to Macchu Picchu and Iquitos and so I get to go running again which is so fun! Afterwards, I went to help in a house with Daniel, a boy about 12 with special needs and Pilar, the cute little baby. I kept Daniel occupied for about 2 hours and introduced the Tia to playdough! Then, I went to help Cinthia, a teenager learn how to read and write because I just found out the day before that she didn’t know how. What was so cool was that afterwards, she thanked me and asked me to come back! Then, as I was going out the two older girls in the house where I eat, Ana and Monica who are 16, are always home all day so I want to spend more time with them. We got to eat lunch together and that’s when they begged me to translate Justin Beiber - instant bonding, right?! Plus, I got into a longer conversation with Rocio, a 15-year-old girl!

Another cool moment was that at home I started washing clothes when Sara Lee (8) came over and started telling me the Pinochio story. Later, she wrote down the story for me and decorated it - A TREASURE! Don’t worry, apparently I don’t wash clothes that well so she and the tiniest girl I’ve ever seen - Estefani - both started washing my clothes. Even when I had to go, they begged to keep washing so we decided the next day we would!

Next, I was asked by the older girls to supervise them so they could dance in the cultural hall-ish room. They actually choreograph dances to all our pop music. Then we tried to help all the kids decorate the picture frames, but it was all a guise because they just wanted the pictures we gave them of them with their houses.

Visitor (Britney)

I had so much fun helping little Renzo who is 9 months old strengthen his legs. He has absolutely no leg muscles - he came to the Aldea that way and the Tias try to help him practice crawling or walking but they said they just don’t have enough time so they asked us to help stretch his legs, massage them and help him practice standing to strengthen them. Meanwhile, Benjamin who is 8 and I love him had a day off school and came outside and played with my kickball with me. Then, I helped him study for a test and don’t worry we high-fived after every question he got right! Then SURPRISE, a Congresswoman came so we all had a big fiesta for her- meaning all the houses had some of the kids perform dances. It was awkward though for a couple of the older girls who were dancing to Justin Beiber’s “Baby, baby, baby,” - don’t worry all the girls are in love and I MEAN IN LOVE with Justin Beiber and the Twilight series. Even little Manuel, 6, in a house filled with 8 older girls sings all the lyrics in English. But when I translated them the other day, they didn’t even know what “baby” meant. haha The congresswoman was impressive and wants to work hard for the women and children - she acknowledges that they need a lot of help! She said over 2 million children work when they aren’t legally allowed to. One cool note for me was that cute Jose Antonio always goes around singing in an opera voice so I started singing out his name randomly all through the day - we sand back and forth - cute!

Success (Britney)

I hope you read this far because it was an absolutely hilarious day. Starting backward, because that’s how I wrote it in my journal, I felt like I haven’t become close to casa 8, where I eat, like I did the house I ate in last week, but tonight was the night! For one, I found out Ana, one of the girls who is always home during the day and more taciturn, made the dessert which was milk with bananas in it (don’t judge too quickly - it sounds horrible but it was delicious)! At first, she denied that she made it, but her tia kept insisting and I finally convinced her to teach me this coming Wednesday = success #1.

Then, UNO is typically the 1/2 hour I dread at the house because all the kids go crazy and don’t play by the rules. But tonight only Catarine, Manuel and I were playing in a room and I totally joked back to counter all their crazinesss and it worked! For one, I made Catarine hold up three fingers to promise me that she wouldn’t cheat. Ever since then I’ve made her do the scout’s honor promise for books I’ve lent her multiple times and she is so good about returning the books and taking care of them now! On Sunday, I totally forgot to do the promise and she begged for it and said “before I take your books I have to do the promise.” Then at dinner she bragged that I trust her a lot now and she is honest, because she does the promise. She even closes her eyes now when she shuffles because before she was stacking the deck all the time in her favor! = SUCCESS #2.

This same night, I started pulling out my delectable dance moves, which Kelsey loves when I show off in public, since the girls were listening to Justin Beiber and they all loved it! I even got kisses for it - take that Kels! Plus, it definitely created a bond. Then as I was leaving, cute little Manuel hugged me and said “Te quiero, te quiero! Hasta Manana!” I practically skipped out of there! = SUCCESS #3!

Earlier, I had come from casa 5, where we celebrated Ruben’s birthday. How hilarious is this - they sing Happy Birthday first in English and then immediately follow it up with a version in Spanish. But one cool tradition is that the Tia praised him and then invited everyone around the table to do the same!

Earlier in the day, cute Daniel with disabilities screamed when he saw me and ran to hug me - ahh how the kids are so loving here!