Hello to all at home! We got here safe and sound, thank God, and are enjoying the beautiful Mexican weather....NOT! It´s been raining and cold at night (about 60 degrees,which feels cold with wind and no heat in the house!) I have clothes I washed two days ago that are still hanging wet on the line outside. But we got the hot water heater fixed in the cabin at Hogar Infantil where we´re staying so I got a hot shower this morning - something I definitely take for granted back home. It has been raining a lot here for a couple weeks, causing horrible flooding in other parts of Mexico, but here there are no real complications, except cancelled school and a few stores closed, and a phone line that cuts out for a day or two at a time. I told the kids that if we closed school in Oregon every time it rained, there´d almost not be a school year!
Thanks to all who donated yarn. The girls came up to our cabin yesterday, and it was like a feeding frenzy of yarn, knitting needles and crochet hooks. We came up short in needles and hooks and I hope to get to town later to buy some. A few have made scarves and are proudly wearing them everywhere. Others are just learning and taking a little more time. Eric and Anna are adjusting well - Eric just plays and plays with the kids with legos or his machinery we brought. He surprises me at how at home he feels, but he keeps talking to the kids in English! He switches to Spanish once he realizes they don´t understand. Anna has been mostly hanging out with Mom and trying to avoid being picked up by everyone who walks by. She´s getting used to it here, but I think she misses her own bed and surroundings a little.
Today is Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, and there is a costume contest tonight. If the weather holds out we´ll go to the cemetary to visit the tomb of Nich Anderson, the founder of Hogar, and also give the kids who have family members buried here the chsnce to visit. Today is a day of celebration rather than mourning for the dead - there are marimba bands and balloons and goodies to buy at the cemetery, lots of flowers and people sharing their loved ones´ favorite foods while they tell stories. It is believed that the spirits of the dead come to be with them at their gravesites on this day.
We´ll hopefully spend next week at Neto´s Mom´s house, where there is no internet and limited phone access (and hopefully not so much rain). I´ll try to write a little more after that. In the meantime , here are a few pictures (If I can figure it out on this computer!) Take care, all - love,
Thanks to all who donated yarn. The girls came up to our cabin yesterday, and it was like a feeding frenzy of yarn, knitting needles and crochet hooks. We came up short in needles and hooks and I hope to get to town later to buy some. A few have made scarves and are proudly wearing them everywhere. Others are just learning and taking a little more time. Eric and Anna are adjusting well - Eric just plays and plays with the kids with legos or his machinery we brought. He surprises me at how at home he feels, but he keeps talking to the kids in English! He switches to Spanish once he realizes they don´t understand. Anna has been mostly hanging out with Mom and trying to avoid being picked up by everyone who walks by. She´s getting used to it here, but I think she misses her own bed and surroundings a little.
Today is Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, and there is a costume contest tonight. If the weather holds out we´ll go to the cemetary to visit the tomb of Nich Anderson, the founder of Hogar, and also give the kids who have family members buried here the chsnce to visit. Today is a day of celebration rather than mourning for the dead - there are marimba bands and balloons and goodies to buy at the cemetery, lots of flowers and people sharing their loved ones´ favorite foods while they tell stories. It is believed that the spirits of the dead come to be with them at their gravesites on this day.
We´ll hopefully spend next week at Neto´s Mom´s house, where there is no internet and limited phone access (and hopefully not so much rain). I´ll try to write a little more after that. In the meantime , here are a few pictures (If I can figure it out on this computer!) Take care, all - love,
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