Beyoncé, Soccer, and a New Library

One of my favorite things about being at NPH is the relationships I am building with the kids. When I first arrived, it took the teenagers some time to warm up to me, which is normal. Now, thankfully, it is becoming a different story.

Case in Point: Last night, before I had to put the girls to bed, Sonia and Maru (Sonia is on the left in this photo, Maru on the right), two of the girls I am closest with, taught me the Beyoncé Single Ladies dance. They LOVE this dance and decided that I should learn it because...well, I guess because I was laughing so hard when they showed me that they knew the entire thing. I asked them how many times they had watched the music video to learn it, and they couldn´t even count the number it was so many. I haven´t laughed so hard in a long time.

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This past Monday was puente, which means a holiday here. The kids were home, so Sophie, Naomi, and I broke out Rummikube, which the kids love to play. Then, after lunch, the women´s director, Veckry (pronounced Beckry), decided to hold a soccer tournament. For those of you who know me well, I have never played soccer in my life. Tennis, golf, and running are my sports. However, for the second time since I have been here, I took the ¨field,¨ which is really a cement court, to play on a team with the other caregivers, volunteers, and directors. The good news is that we won! The bad news is that though I am agressive, my foot-ball coordination is horrible. I think I better stick with sports in which hand-eye coordination are pertinent.


This is Veckry with her two children, Andrea and Sammy.

That night, we had a BBQ, which is a huge treat here. Father Phil and the kids cooked Costco burgers, which, I have to say, after not having had red meat in a long time, tasted amazing!


The grillmasters.

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It is official! I am getting my new library! The building of the wall is beginning today, and I received my new books for book club. I am very excited. I realize I have a ton of work before me: cateloging all of our books, designing a system to check them out, and getting kids motivated to read. However, I am very excited that NPH is motivated to get these kids reading as well, as is evidenced by the rapid pace at which this project is moving. Here is a photo of what the library looks like now (I had to remove some books for construction). Note that right now it is not really a room at all (as you can see from this photo). We are also getting new book shelves. My newest idea for this is to have a design competition. In our house in Miacatlán, where the younger kids are, there are murals in the library. I think I might have a competition for kids to design murals, based on the NPH core values, as well as the theme of reading, and those who win will have their murals in the library (we will paint as a team this summer).

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On a very sad note, by former Editor in Chief, Brian Anderson, passed away this week from a rare form of Leukemia. He was such an amazing man, leader, and boss. I am so thankful I had the opportunity to work with him while I did. He gave me my first job and always encouraged me to aim for new heights. You will be missed, Brian!

Descanso? I´m Confused...

Every other week, we get a weekend break, which means we work 12 days in a row, many of them 12-hour days, with a few breaks, of course. I worked two weekends in a row, however, so that equals 19 days. This past weekend, I had my second ¨descanso¨ (which means break) since coming here in January. Let´s just say having a lot of free time was very...confusing.

As many of you know, I tend to be someone who likes to be, um, busy. I like to have things to do. (Unless you take into account naps, in which case, I am a champ!) So, this past weekend, I really had a lot of downtime, which is a good thing, but it was hard to grasp. The good news is that I showed up at work very rested, and I realized how much I missed the kids.

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When working on weekends, I really have time to bond with the kids that I do not get when they are in school. I made some amazing new friends, including Maru, Sonia, Anaid, Blanca, and Liz. All are amazing girls, and I feel like they are already very close friends. Hugs abound, as do jokes, and I am now being confided in about friend problems, boy problems, etc. It is amazing. Everytime I get to see them, they run up to me and give me huge hugs. I feel like they are becoming some of MY closest friends.

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One girl here reminds me a lot of my friend Susan from college, due to her humor, appearance, and love of books. (Susan, I hope you are reading this!) Her name is Silvia, and she and I have bonded over books. I helped her pick out a new book, Emma, and we have been inseperable since. One night, when I was up in the dorms hanging out, she brought over a photo album that a former volunteer had made for her. What makes this extrordinary is that many of these kids really have nothing to show of their lives when they were younger (no photos, etc.). Silvia had approximately 20 photos from her life, and the volunteer had put them into an album for her. She went through each photo with me and told me about each one. She then came upon one where she had 3 copies of it. She took the extras out, and handed one to me. (I thought she was just trying to show it to me.) She then told me she wanted me to have it. (Gulp...) Wow. I told her I couldn´t take it, but she insisted. It was such a HUGE gift.

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I went to Miacatlán last week for a dinner the volunteers put on for the new kids who come to NPH. At the dinner, there were approximately 15 new children who had come recently, many of them part of larger families that had come. I think one of the things that really strikes me is how protective the older kids are over the younger ones...the older siblings are like little adults. It is hard to see. These kids should be kids, they should have a childhood, which is what NPH hopes to provide. But you see the responsibility they feel in their faces. The younger kids, meanwhile, are carefree. Here are a few pics from that evening.


This family came to NPH two days before I did, so we bonded over that.


This family of four spans the ages of 14 to 6.

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Finally (I promise, this is the last graph!), I have to tell my roommates that they are amazing. Sophie (on the right in this photo) and Naomi (left), thank you for being there for me always. Thank you for always turning off the stove when I forget that I have eggs boiling; thank you for putting up with my numerous naps; thank you for not killing me when I want to chat about our days even though we are all tired; and thank you for knowing how much I love Diet Coke and nail polish!