Week 1

The last week has gone by so fast, I'm not sure I remember it. Let me give you a little synopsis of it:

-Thursday: I arrived to David and Leah Teran's beautiful house in Cerro Azul (I will be living here until we arrange for me to stay with a Mexican family for a while. I speak mostly English in the home, so it will be helpful for me to stay with someone who will speak Spanish to me all the time. Right now Leah is trying to arrange for me to stay with a woman from a nearby village).

-Friday: I slept in after a long day of traveling. I got to see how their days usually go including school for the kids, feeding the baby (who is super cute and growing quickly), trying to keep things tidy, etc. For the most part I just observed, besides the previously mentioned trip to the store and attending part of a graduation with the other girls who live here. Oh, and I couldn't forget my first trip to one of the infamous taco stands!

-Saturday: I was introduced to my duties for the time I am here. We took a trip to the pool at what they call the "casino" (which is like a big outdoor civic center). It felt soooo good. We took another trip to the local taco stand that night :)

-Sunday: Most of my day consisted of playing with the kids and attending a birthday party. This was no ordinary "American" birthday party. Leah had warned me that Mexican people like to throw big parties for their children, but I had no idea. There was a rented trampoline, two big rented inflatables, a hired clown, about 120 people (families attend birthday parties), food (and tons of sweets) for all of the kids, and big plates of food served to each adult.  And (according to David, who had not attended but who proved that this party was the talk of the town by passing on this bit of information) there were 500 tamales made for the event! We arrived at about 3:30 and didn't leave until 7. All this for a seven year old. Crazy.

-Monday thru Thursday this week consisted of a lot of babysitting, baby feeding, running errands, attending some prayer meetings and worship times with the girls, reading, doing dishes, and sweating sitting down doing nothing but thinking. Oh! I almost forgot one of my highlights-on Tuesday night I played soccer with David and some of his friends. We just played on a basketball court at the casino. It was great, despite the fact that the humidity alone was wet enough to soak my shirt ;) 

David and Leah left to take some time off so I turned into a full-time mother when they left on Wednesday (they left the baby with another couple in town). Today we had a couple of interesting experiences with the kids....David and Leah will be back tomorrow (Friday).

That's pretty much it, with a lot of details left out. I hope you are all doing well.

~ Lauren