Mexico, Day 3

July 5, 7:50 am
I think I may be under spiritual attack.

It feels like everyone knows more than me, has better judgment, is more worth listening to, is more spiritual. My reaction to any kind of advice or admonition seems to be annoyance.

8:15 am
We're sitting in Sala now. Just sang 3 songs, about half English and Spanish each. Now there's a man talking, via a girl translating into English. He's sharing about the teenage boys he lives with [he's a house parent].

From Deuteronomy 11:13 and 18-24. He says, "Teach your children these things again and again and again. Love the Lord your God. If you obey, you won't lack anything."

1:35 pm
Back in our room after lunch.

The morning was actually great. One of the staff here, Chelsea, showed us the entire missions. They do a TON here. Special needs kids, elementary school, special needs babies, nursery, daycare, printing shop, clinic, and orchard. We sampled the macadamia nuts, which was YUM. The tiny babies are super cute. There's a six-month-old in the nursery named Lucy and she has HUGE eyes.

I asked what kind of special needs kids they have, but it sounds like no autistic kids. Down Syndrome, spina bifida, muscular dystrophy, and then a few generally mentally disabled.

I'm a bit excited for this afternoon. There's tons of jobs, like clothes and the newsletter mailing and the nut processing and I'm sure tons of other stuff. Right now I'm on a bottom bunk with Carissa after lunch, having changed into capris and runners. My feet got VERY dirty, along with my work sandals, but I'm okay with it. I'm only working 4 more weeks.

Between 11 and 11:20 there was break, and the fire department was selling burritos for a fundraiser. I had 3 - nice and filling after the single pancake I had for breakfast. It was a fun little interlude. Joel taught us a key trick in which you snap your fingers on your lanyard and the key springs up [theoretically. I did not succeed at this much] into your hand.

Chelsea is really pretty. [I really wondered if she had a hard time of it in Mexico, being pretty and blonde, with getting rude comments from men.] I don't like having to have my hair up and back all the time, but I'll get over it.

I loved sampling the flavors of nuts. I really want to buy a whole bunch, for gifts and for myself. The gift shop is apparently only open Tuesday-Friday 11-11:20. [It was also open 1:30-2.]

My mood is a bit more upbeat now. I just about fell asleep in Sala this morning but the tour woke me up. I think I'll leave some of the clothes I brought here, since they are clearly able to put them to good use. They were saying earlier that if anyone wanted to donate their grad dress, that would be great.

(Random: I got salad dressing on my striped capris yesterday at lunch. Go me. Hope it washes out.)

4:40 pm
Just back from shoveling out weeds at the orchard. My feet and legs are super dirty and my shoes are all full of sandy dirt. [Baja California is SO SANDY. Dirt got in EVERYTHING.] It was hot, but it surprised me that we only worked for a little under 2 hours. 2:30-almost 4:30.

I'm still struggling a little with resentment when given unasked-for advice.

Dinner in 10 min. I'm already tired, but I can't believe Monday is nearly over. Tonight we'll babysit some of the kids and then crash again.

It seems like we're all still a little uncertain of what to do here. I'm looking forward to when we can all relax a little and goof around a bit more.

9:35
Some goofy giggling now! We're all fairly overtired.

Tonight we babysat the kids in each 'house' of the orphanage. There are between 9 and 12 kids in each, and ours was House 5. I was with Destiny, but otherwise no one from Southgate.

When we walked in they were all sitting there, shy, and then one lady pulled out two recorders and they thought that was pretty cool. There was also a couple with a printer for taking pictures of the kids and printing them right there, which the kids also liked.

And then - high point! - I sat down on the floor and patted it and the three older girls - 12, 12 and 13 - sat down and I taught them Stella Ella Ola [clapping game], just by gesturing. It was FUN. The girl were named Rosa, Yiria, Ana Maria. [Every time I said her name I thought of Anamaria from PotC.] One of the other ladies called me 'wonderful' for getting them out of their shells.

Then...they all escaped.

Originally they were on the playground (and I was playing with little boys and one of them accidentally conked me in the nose with his head. I got a brief nosebleed) but then...they scattered. I had no idea which kids were ours and of course we can't communicate with them. We got it figured out eventually, but it felt like a gong show. The boys, teens, from house 7, were playing soccer with other people, and the kids were baiting a random tied-up dog. I just watched them for a while to make sure they didn't go anywhere else, and SOMEHOW we rounded them all up and ended with the right number of the right kids.

After that we watched a movie with them (Mary-Kate and Ashley. In English. I don't think they understood a word) and the little kids climbed all over Destiny. I sat by Yiria, who was very quiet and clearly wanted to watch. I let her scroll through the pictures on my camera until it died. The other kids took TONS of pictures on Destiny's and another girl's [Alyssa's] camera.

We sent them to bed around 8:30, and the house parents got home at 9. Yiria gave me a hug before we left. I got Destiny to take a picture of us. All the kids thought she was hilarious. [She is :D]

Now we're back and all giddy and tired. Apparently I look 'doe-eyed' with no glasses on. We have also eaten the last of the pretzels from the car ride, and we didn't meet as a team because it was too late. Michelle and Destiny are doing the splits again. I believe we are about to turn off the lights.

Today felt like a big success. I chatted some with the Americans and managed to be a little outgoing and not quite so don't-talk-to-me introverted. It felt good.


Quote: "I know why they don't use vacuum cleaners around here. Some day someone's going to start vacuuming the dust and just never stop and the entirety of Baja California will disappear." - Liz, from Michigan