Tuesday, March 4, 2008

La Pijamada

Saturday night we had a giant sleepover for ALL the girls in the house. It was really fun to see them just being kids, especially after all the hard work from the Junta and exams. We put out mattresses and blankets in the school and had a BBQ and played games and watched movies all night. We also had a fogata (bonfire) and roasted marshmallows. The girls love their marshmallows lit on fire and charred. So imagine 200 or so girls with sticks and flaming marshmallows. And as everyone wanted to roast my marshmallow for me, I had to try very hard to describe the fine art of roasting marshmallows. One of the older girls roasted it for me and it was nearly perfect. But of course, one of the younger girls saw that it wasn't black yet and proceeded to "fix" this for me.

After the bonfire, some of the girls from my section were dancing on the soccer field to the music from the town dance. I joined them and have started to learn cumbia.

It was a great weekend, but exhausting and I am looking forward to relaxing on descanso. I think my Spanish is improving and I am learning a lot every day. I think the biggest thing I am learning is to put others first. It doesn't matter if I like my marshmallow golden brown; if a kid wants to roast it for me, I should let her. If the girls want to play chess for 3 hours, I should. And sometimes it means that you get up early, even though the extra sleep would be amazing because someone else is depending on you.

Peace

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