I'm the baby lady and the babies gave me lice. Sigh. All the kids have them and although sharing is generally encouraged at the house, this is one thing I wish they had not shared. I've got it pretty under control though and I've learned to keep my hair up. If I get re-infested, I'm chopping my locks...
Anyway, the baby lady gets up at 6 or 7 and supervises/facilitates getting dressed. What is generally considered an easy task for most people (fashionistas excluded) is certainly not here. But not for the same reason as the fashionistas. The problems here are the total opposite. The fashionista has so much choice, that she doesn't know what to wear, here there are not enough clothes to go around. Underclothes especially. So those who are courageous fight it out with others for socks and panties/boxer shorts and those who weren't born with a fighting spirit often go with out. Uniforms are donned, breakfasts eaten, (not by me, because runny under-cooked porridge doesn't turn my crank,) and school children then hop in the bus. Nicolas honks the horn at 7:28 and the kids run to the bus because they know that he leaves at 7:30 sharp. Much to my delight, Nicolas was appointed bus driver, so twice a day, he makes the trip to the two schools the kids go to and picks up/drops off 22 children. I needn't describe the chaos that ensues when you have 22 kids in a bus without seat belts or a door that closes totally.
I stay at the house with the babies and we usually watch a half hour of telly. Then it's out to the yard to do any number of things. Feed the animals and visit the baby rabbits, play on the swing or the soccer field or perhaps color on the porch. Snack is at 10 and is almost always a fruit or a jugo con leche. I've discovered that I hate papaya. It tastes like vomit. And they grow everywhere here as big as watermelons. Bananas on the other hand, I have grown to love. I used to think a banana was a banana, but I was educated on two separate occasions. One where I was giving what I thought was a banana to one of the kids when Olga (the head Lady of the house) stopped me, telling me that those where only for cooking. I sampled them that evening. They were fried and served with meat and rice. They were delicious. The second banana education was at the market this morning. Beside the sheep heads and the pig feet, I saw a woman who sold only bananas. Big ones, small intensely yellow ones, pink ones, black ones. Some for cooking, some for eating, some for animals, all sorts. It was cool when I managed to get the sheep head out of my peripheral vision.
I play with the 3 babies and Christian until 12:00 when they have lunch. The babies are Estephanie 3, Moises 4, and his sister Agar, 3. Agar is the up side down one with Nicolas in the picture in the last post. She is the most angelic thing. All the babies are in fact. Christian is 8, but thinks he's 6. His story is one of the most heartbreaking and resulted in his slow development among other problems. Anyway, he doesn't go to school and stays with me.
Lunch is always a soup with rice and something to follow. The soups are always good enough that you don't have to eat the rice. Thank God because after rice everyday for 2 weeks, I've had enough!
In the afternoon, the two girl babies go for a nap and I'm then responsible for working with "the special kids." That's how they're called around here anyway. Including Christian, there are 4 special kids in the house. They're a challenge, but sweet except for one that Nicolas and I and everyone in the house actually really struggle with. He's 8 and acts about 4. He's mean spirited and will do the most atrocious things if you're not looking for a split second. Two days ago, we were doing craft at the table on the porch and all of a sudden, I didn't know where he was. I looked under the table and had his face under the dog and was licking his balls. I couldn't make this up. He was licking the dog's balls. Anyway, I had to ask one of the other adults to explain to him why that's not allowed because my Spanish doesn't extend to the realms of the verb to lick, and balls.
Anyway, I work with the special kids because the teacher who comes in the afternoon (school is only until 11:00 or 12:00,) can't deal with them and help the others with their homework.
At 5:00 it's shower time. PJ's at 5:30, dinner at 6:00, bed at 7:30. Bed for me at 10:00 because at 10:00 I'm dead tired. And that's my day. I should mention that the lack of underwear was taxing both on my nerves in the morning from breaking up fights and on my heart because having what you need to be able to change your undies everyday is kind of a basic necessity right? So out of some of the money that our friends and family gave us, I bought 60 pairs of panties and boxer shorts for kids. This cost 20 Euros. So if you pitched in a little bit of moolah at our going away party, you made a little girl in Bolivia happy because she now has princess underwear for everyday of the week.
Anyway, the daily routine will change soon as we're moving out of the house and into a house that is 15 minutes away on foot. Our marriage wouldn't withstand 5 more months of bunk beds and never seeing each other because when you live at the house, there is ALWAYS something to do. As a result, we never see each other. I'll post pics of our new place that has a lovely garden with ducks, chickens and two adorable dogs that belong to the family that's lodging us. Thanks for reading. We miss our friends and family, but not the weather in France. It's sunny here everyday and at least 25 degrees. Woo Hoo!
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