Is it really May already?

Wow...It is May 8th and I haven't written a blog since January?! My, has time flown. Things have been a challenge, as always. Sometimes it is hard get in the mood to write a blog when things are just so tough. BUT...tonight was very special to me, so I wanted to share. Every night we ring the bell at 8:30pm for the kids to gather in their dorms for prayers and bedtime. I went in the "sextos" dorm, for the girls in their 6th/final semester of high school and spent a couple hours just hanging out with them. Usually we pray and then Annelies (a fellow volunteer from Belgium) and I have to say goodnight and make a quick exit so they can lockup and set the alarm. But tonight, the director who usually tells us to leave was busy with something, so I was able to stay with the girls until 10:15pm! I just sat with them and they told me old stories from their childhood while growing up in Miacatlán at the home for our younger children. One of the girls that I spend alot of time with turned to me in the middle of one of the stories and said, "Te quiero. Me das mucha risa." (She loves me and she thinks I'm funny! haha). I felt so privileged to hear their stories and it was just a fun experience to see how excited they were to share. They are such a wonderful group of girls. (Of course I've always known that, but sometimes I forget the good and that they are the entire reason I'm here volunteering, when you have a cloud of negativity surrounding you.) I'm going to be so proud of them when they graduate this July.

The little things, like chatting late at night with the girls, or having someone tell me that they love me, are the things that get me through. We are going to plan a pijamada (pajama party!) for this weekend. I can't wait. :)

I wanted to end this blog with a video of the Asian Day event that I helped Annelies organize, but I can only share it on fb. I'll have to ask Erika (a past volunteer and our current Projects Coordinator employee here at NPH Mexico) about getting a copy of the video. Annelies received a donation from a group in Belgium, so she had extra funds to put on an awesome event. The video Erika made shows me getting clobbered while sumo wrestling at the event. I'll have to post it soon for people without access to it on fb. Stay tuned! (a message to all the devoted followers of my dead blog...haha)

A couple of the wonderful senior girls:

 

$3 Boxed Wine & Sundae Berries

 I had last weekend off and spent most of my free time with my friend and fellow volunteer, Sarah. We went to Costco on Saturday so that I could print some pictures from Christmas for the kids. We tried as many samples as possible and at one point we were double-fisting with cups of coffee and tea. We enjoyed our free refreshments while sitting on some patio furniture on display in the frozen food aisle. After Costco, we went to Mega to buy groceries and wine! Saturday night we ate spaghetti, drank our $3 boxed wine and watched the 2nd part of the final Harry Potter movie. It was amazing! :)

Sunday Sarah and I went downtown to buy some movies. I bought the following:

- She’s the Man

- Willow

- My Big Fat Greek Wedding

- Remember Me

- Back to the Future

- Casper

- Just Friends

- Bring it On

- She's Out of My League

- Sister Act

- Easy A

All of them are in English, except for Willow. I guess I'll have to watch that one on a day when I am really motivated to practice my Spanish during my free time....(this doesn't happen very often, fyi)

Sarah and I being G's on a hike in Puebla

Today (Tuesday) I went back to Costco with two sisters from the high school. We were going to pick up some tortilla chips, queso and salsa for nachos at the Superbowl party we are planning for this weekend. Unfortunately they didn't have the right kind of any of those items, so we will have to try Sam's Club another day. So instead of shopping, I bought the girls a berry sundae (called "sundae berries" here in Mexico) at the "fancy" Costco cafe. We sat outside, sharing the sundae and talking about our experiences at NPH. One of the girls wants to serve in Haiti for a year because she loves to travel and meet new people from around the world. She wants to learn a little French before going, so it's perfect that our new volunteer, Annelies from Belgium, speaks French and can help her out. Although it was an unsuccessful nacho shopping trip, I got to share a wonderful afternoon with two beautiful girls. They really are great people and I am so fortunate to have 6 more months with them.

(Photos from Christmas)

Halloween, All Saints Day and Día de los Muertos

Although Halloween isn't really a Mexican tradition, we had a costume contest here at the high school home and the volunteers at the home in Miacatlán put on a haunted house for all of the little kids. We found out on the day of Halloween that there would be a costume contest that night with a pizza dinner for the top 3 winners. Whitney decided she was going to dye her hair black and borrow one of the high school girl's uniforms to dress up as one of the pequeñas here. Meghan decided to join her and they both dyed their hair (it was permanent dye! haha). I said there is no way in hell that I am dying my hair black, so I had to think fast of what I could dress up as. All of the kids tell me that my hair looks like the dried hairs from corn on the cob (go figure) so I decided to dress up as.....CORN ON THE COB! lol I sewed on some yellow paper circles onto a yellow bed sheet and wrapped it around my body to serve as the actual corn, put my hair up in a ponytail on top of my head to serve as the "pelos de elote" (corn hairs) and stuck big leaves in the sheet at the top for the husks. For the contest there were about 20 participants, but some competed as a group. Each group had to make their entrance in front of everyone and put on a little show/dance. When I made my entrance they randomly chose some slow gangsta song, so I just did my pimp-walk and skipped around a little because I didn't know what else to do. hahaha I think it was entertaining enough. They introduced me as the "elote diabólica" but I made sure when people asked later that I was actually "elote feliz". I didn't get the memo that for Halloween in Mexico people only dress up as scary or evil things, so dressing up as a happy corn on the cob was a confusing concept to grasp for some of the kids. Anyways, I got 4th place! haha I don't think a 4th place actually existed, but the judges loved me, what can I say? ;) The Happy Corn on the Cob was a HIT!

The next two days were All Saints Day on the 1st and Día de los Muertos on the 2nd. I took photos at all of the events and just posted the story on the intranet, so it will be up on the NPH Mexico website in a couple days. Pictures are worth the thousand words that I could make you suffer through, so I'll just let you check out all the event photos of the high schoolers and the little'uns with these links.  The offerings the kids made were beautiful! It was so great to actually be in Mexico on Día de los Muertos and really experience the rich culture with all my senses, instead of just reading about it or making crafts in my Spanish classes in the US.

Sidenote: I realized today how much I miss being able to turn on the radio whenever I want and listen to 107.7 The End. I appreciate the Mexican music they play here, but I get sick of hearing the top hits all of the time here at the high school: Pitbull's Give me everything tonight, Katy Perry, J Beebz, Lady Gaga, Avril Lavigne, Mr. Saxobeat, Black Eyed Peas, Jennifer Lopez Get on the Floor and the kids especially LOVE to sing me the song "La gente es muy loca...what the F***" by Sak Noel. So to ease my craving for some good old grunge/alternative music in English, I listened to 107.7 on the internet while writing this blog. It was great to hear some Red Hot Chili Peppers, Mumford&Sons, Franz Ferdinand, Smashing Pumpkins, Flagpole Sitta,  Foster the People, Black Keys, Naked & Famous, Offspring and Sublime. :D

Bow Wow Wow Yippy Yo Yippy Yay

A funny thing I discovered a couple weeks ago while searching for my blog on the web...if you google "Bailey's Big Adventure" you will come up with a bunch of blogs about DOGS! lol I thought that was hilarious. The first one says "My Jack Russell Terrier Bailey is a very adventurous little K-9" and another says "Bailey, a cream poodle, had been placed with me because he had been acquired by someone hoping to use him for therapy work but thought he was too rambunctious…and yes, he was." So not only are they about dogs, they are about male dogs. haha Oh! I found a blog about girl dog: "Bailey did great. She generally stayed within sight, always hung with one of the other dogs, and came when called (yes, she gets a cookie EVERY time she comes to the whistle and since she loves Happy Hips chicken breast, no problems)." Another: "Well, Bailey is a little pip, as my friend Tammy would say." Oh is that right Tammy? lol  Here's one where the dog actually wrote the blog! : "My mom and dad cam home from Petco and gave my brother Baxter and I some raw hide treats. We had been very good dogs, so we deserved a special treat."

I think that my sister, Autumn, thought of the blog title "Bailey's Big Adventure", so I guess I should thank her for such a great idea. Who would have thunk? :)

Anyways, who doesn't love dogs?

Hachi, my neighbor's adorable dog.

Leo the Lion! My family's little devil.

Riley! My family's wonderful Wheaten Terrier.

Ringo! Brandi's dog (my oldest sister), with my beautiful little niece, Sophie. :)

Sandy! My girlfriend/twin/the dog of my sister, Autumn, and her bf Steve.

Side note: here are the pictures from the hike with the girls two weeks ago. It was fun!

A Trip to D.F.

This descanso (my weekend off) was one of the most enjoyable ones yet. Friday I spent most of the day walking around downtown Cuernavaca and Saturday I visited Mexico city with Wesleigh! Wesleigh is a fellow volunteer who is originally from the best city in the world, SEATTLE! haha Wesleigh, Meghan and I often brag about how great Seattle is to the other volunteers. As a side-note/random fun fact about the Northwest, out of all of the NPH volunteers (about 34 I think?) in the 9 countries, 16 are from the Northwest. That's more than any other area in the US and even in the world. Yay for the great Northwest! Anyways...Other than being picked up in Mexico City 4 months ago when I arrived, I haven't had the chance to explore the city so I was excited to finally make time for it this weekend. Wesleigh and I took a ruta (city bus) down to the Pullman station (it's like a greyhound station) to catch a bus to Mexico city. After the 1 hour bus ride, we hopped on the metro system to head to the zocalo, or the main square. To figure out where to go, we used a magazine article titled "Mexico City Unmasked: 20 insider tips to demystify the metropolis" that Meghan's mom sent her (thanks Meghan's mom!). Our first stop was to a rooftop cafe called "El Mayor". The word we used to describe it was "swanky". We joked about how we felt like scrubs compared to the other people at the cafe. I enjoyed a iced chai tea and a Cappresse panina and Wes ordered a panini as well. The food and view were great, but what I really enjoyed was just relaxing and conversing with a friend. :) For the rest of the time, we just walked around the city. Some areas reminded me of downtown Portland or Seattle, except there are WAY more people in Mexico city. The magazine article said "Known locally as D.F., for Distrito Federal, Mexico City sprawls across almost 600 square miles-- it's roughly the size of Houston but packs in four times as many people." We stopped at a bakery called Pasteleria Ideal, which was founded in 1927. It is a self-serve bakery, like most bakeries in Mexico, so you grab a tray and some prongs and go at it! Apparently we were a little too eager when we got in trouble for trying to take cookies out of a cupboard that apparently was off-limits. The best part was when they packed all of our cookies into a cute little box and tied a ribbon around it. On the bus ride home, Wes and I took a bite of each of our cookie choices. They were a little dry (typical for pan dulce in Mexico) but my favorite was the one with a little caramel in the middle. All in all, my first trip to Mexico City was a great experience and I can't wait to go again to discover more of it's hidden gems.

Here is the link to the pictures!

Today (Sunday), I walked down the street with all of the volunteers who have the same descanso as me (Wes, Sarah, Alli & Natascha) to use the pool at a nearby hotel. It was really relaxing to just sit in the sun, read magazines and listen to music while drinking a mango margarita. I made sure to cover my back from the sun, but I guess I forgot about my legs because right now they are lobster red. Nothing is as bad as when I burn my back though, so this is no biggie.

I'm so grateful for this wonderful descanso weekend. I think next time we might go on this 10 hour hike....haha I hope I don't die!

Mexico City!

Wesleigh and I at El Mayor cafe.

The view from the roof of the hotel in Cuernavaca.

Kids in da House!

Whitney is in our house, playing with two little boys who are the children of our coworkers. It is so great to have screaming kids running around the house, talking about farts. haha It feels like home, since my mom ran an in-home daycare for most of my life. I love the high schoolers here, but I sure do miss being around children all of the time. Luckily I get to visit all of the little kids at the orphanage in Miacatlán once a week for my job as Communications Officer. ...ope, just got hit in the face with a ball that one of the boys kicked. Good times. lol

Well, this weekend I'm working, so I'll be with the high schoolers. I think the women's director and I are going to take a group of the girls to Tepoztlan for a hike. I'm excited! I'll have to take pictures and post them this weekend.

8 Beautiful Faces Join NPH Mexico!

Yesterday I spent the entire day (9am-9pm) documenting the arrival of eight new additions to the orphanage in Miacatlán. The children came from an orphanage in Ciudad Juarez in the state of Chihuahua that borders El Paso, Texas. As you probably already know, border cities are the most dangerous areas of México and are not the best places for children to grow up. Everyday, more and more children are abandoned or orphaned in Ciudad Juarez due to the high rates of drug-related violence. Even if the children have the opportunity to join an orphanage along the border, they still face many challenges and disadvantages in life, such as an inadequate education.

So eight lucky children were given the opportunity to join our wonderful home here at NPH and I was happy to be a part of this new stage in their life. I rode to the airport in a van with Marisol, the NPH social worker, and Carlos, an employee who helps out in many different departments. We arrived at the airport around 12pm and took pictures of the kids as a group after they stopped to get their baggage. They all seemed to be in great spirits, although they thought it was kind of weird that I was taking so many pictures of them. Five of the kids belonged to one family, and the other three were a family. The kids had to wake up at 4am to get to the airport so they were tired and hungry by the time they arrived at the airport in Mexico City at 12pm. Before heading out, we decided to let the kids have a quick bite to eat at the airport food court. I sat with 3 of the girls while they were eating and asked them some questions (with the best Spanish I could muster...I think it served as some entertainment to accompany their meal. I made them giggle with my eloquent speech and wittiness. haha) The girls were so sweet. They told me about their favorite subjects ("I like everything except Math and History!") and how they were feeling about all of the changes ahead ("I'm nervous, but I'm glad I get to be with my siblings in the new home.").

On the ride back to Cuernavaca, (we made a stop there to take a tour of the NPH International and NPH Mexico offices, as well as the home for the high schoolers) one of the boys sat in the back where it was really bumpy and was watching all of the cars out the back window,  so his lunch ended up all over the floor of the van. :( pobrecito. I felt so bad for him. I wanted to tell him not to worry and that everything was going to be okay, but I let Magaly (another NPH employee) tell him (she knew how to say it better and faster than I could).

The next stop was their new home, Casa San Salvador in Miacatlán. The kids were greeted by Father Phil, the house directors and a group of kids holding a huge sign that said "Bienvenidos. Esta es su casa!" (Welcome. This is your home.) It was a beautiful greeting. I think the kids were surprised that the house went to so much trouble, just for them. My main concern though, was hydrating the kids and letting them rest. They had a long day and were exhausted. The van ride was pretty hot, so the kids were sweating a little, and their tummies were full of sugar from devouring the goody bags they received from the social work office. So what do the directors offer them to rehydrate, of course, the "water" of Mexico, aka Coke! (gerrr) Anyways, I'll save my lecture on diabetes for another blog.

So the kids safely arrived to their new home. After the tour of the huge property (including the fields & the farm animals in the back), I think they felt a little more at ease and were ready to start their new life at NPH. I could tell that the oldest girl realized that NPH was a great place, filled with kind people who were going to take good care of her and her siblings. I wished them good luck and told them to have fun before I headed back to Cuernavaca with the other employees. I can't wait to go back to Miacatlán to visit my 8 new friends! They are all wonderful, loving and bright children. I'm so happy that I was a small part of this huge transition in their lives and I can't wait to see them grow as individuals throughout the year I am here.

Check out the photos here!