lollipops, chorizo and gorditas

On Sunday, the weather was pretty crummy – lots of clouds and light drizzle – so instead of trekking way out to a festival we’d heard about near their weekday program (not knowing if it really was happening, would be cancelled because of rain, etc) we decided to go see a MOVIE! I’d seen a posting about kids’ movies being shown at a museum on one end of town, so we hiked down into el centro and took a bus from there. Fortunately, there is a familiar friend at our bus stop.

Zeiva and Lucas literally hangin' with Mariachi Man (Zeiva is perched on his guitar)

We arrive, and the museum is the house and art collection of a famous Mexican couple who were artists themselves and who bequeathed their estate to Guanajuato State. The “movie” was a DVD being played on a TV in the corner of the living room, and there were 5 chairs set up for viewing. The guy at the gate was not at all friendly and it all seemed a little strange! The movie was called “The Dolphin: The story of a dreamer”. From what I can tell, it was originally produced in Latin America. Animation – not the most amazing movie, typical plot and Disney characters (funny side kick cuttlefish; evil/ugly beast from the deep; beautiful protective guiding manta ray).

The movie "theatre"!

Another woman showed up with her 2-month-old baby girl, a boy who was maybe 3 years old, and another who was maybe 6 (it’s really hard for me to tell because the kids here are so little). The 6-year-old, like Lucas, was pretty engrossed in the movie. Zeiva also did great, and asked some questions as the story went along to try to figure out what was happening. Meanwhile, the other (young) mom was trying to nurse her baby, while her 3-year-old was literally climbing over the ropes that block off the antique furniture, art, china, etc. She is sporadically yelling, “Get out of there! Come sit down or I’m going to smack you! You’d better come sit down or we’re going home right now and I’m locking you up!” It was a little awkward for me, but I’m sure not for her. And sadly, it made me feel a little better about having a screaming match with Zeiva about how we didn’t like each other’s choices. Because by the end, I’m pretty sure that kid was really going to get locked up for the rest of the day!

I’m figuring out that treats really keep the kids happy and motivated, so I got them these crazy lollipops once we got back to el centro so they would walk up all steps back home with me. :) Worked like a charm!

Lollipop bribes

We’ve gotten out the door a little late for camp the past two days, which has led us to take some new buses. This is a bummer on the one hand because our regular second morning bus is driven by a really nice driver who knows us now and waves to us when he sees us around town, or waiting for a bus headed the other direction, etc. We’ve been too late to catch his bus, but the flip side is that we’ve tried a couple of other buses and seen some other routes. We did take one bus that had me nervous that we were headed way out of town (to Leon, which is a much larger city over an hour away). But just as the panic was starting to set in, I recognized that we were on a different freeway on the back side of the neighborhood the camp is in, and sure enough, he stopped soon thereafter and we got off. We were about 3 times as far away as our normal stop, but we still did just fine, which was good for all of us to experience. The kids were totally into the fact that they recognized where we were once we started walking, so that was pretty cool.

Every night I ask Zeiva if I can read some of the Thomas the Train book in Spanish. We had agreed that ALL reading would be in Spanish once we got here, but every evening she would ask for one more day. I figured they were going through enough, so I didn’t push it. So some days she lets me insert a few words here and there, other days she says English only. But last night, I just started reading in English, and threw in some Spanish words as I usually try to do. Instead of her regular protest, she said, “no, no, only Spanish, no English”. So I read all in Spanish, and Lucas said excitedly, “ I understood everything in the story!” and Zeiva said, “me too!” First, they have the story memorized, so I’m sure they followed it anyway, and second, the vocabulary is really easy, so it’s no surprise they understood it all since they understand just about everything! But I was really glad they let me read in Spanish and I excitedly congratulated them on having understood it all.

Yesterday, I finally left the club after the kids were settled. I wandered around Marfil and saw the two main churches, one of which is pictured below. The other one was all locked up and I couldn’t figure out how to get through any gates to check it out. I also stopped by an art museum and found out about a music class for kids that they offer weekly – something to think about after the camp is over. I ate lunch at a plaza and bought a weekly periodical and perused that. It was a nice day – unfortunately, everyone’s told me that that’s just about everything there is to do in Marfil, so I may have exhausted my wanderings around there. While I was walking one old road to the second church (where there are a lot of abandoned buildings and lots) I did see a lot of new birds, so maybe I’ll bring my binoculars and camera and see whom I can find.

The San Jose and Santiago Church in Marfil (near where the kids are in camp)

We went to the butcher and Lucas picked out some chorizo that he wanted to try. Despite it being rather spicy, he loved it and wolfed down two-thirds of it (I needed some dinner, too!). It’s fun to actually have them like some of the different food here, even if it’s only once in a while. Zeiva is still struggling to enjoy her all-time favorite food – quesadillas – because she’s used to flour tortillas (I know, sacrilege) and cheddar. The corn tortillas and queso asadora aren’t doing it for her! I also sometimes feel like they already have the infamous teenage appetites. Here’s the lunch I pack for each of them: two sandwiches each, a babybel cheese, a granola bar, grapes or strawberries, two baby bananas each, and crackers with some dulce de leche in between. And when I show up at 2 pm they are ravenous and want to know what I have for snack. I think it’s because they are eating cereal instead of our usual stick-to-your-ribs granola and yogurt for breakfast. I suggested making our granola once I found something resembling brown sugar, but got completely shot down.

I decided to come back to the casita today during camp. It wasn’t great timing, because the obligatory cleaning lady comes on Tuesdays. I didn’t realize it took her so long, so by the time I had to leave around 12:45 pm, I hadn’t been able to go inside to eat or do my shoulder exercises or anything. Good excuse to eat a gordita down in town! It took me 11 minutes to get from home to el centro, compared to 25-30 with the kids. Call me jaded, but I just don’t need to stop to investigate every cow pie I walk by. Instead, I had a delicious gordita at my favorite little place (ok, one of the few I’ve been to, but I do really like the family in there) and finally asked the woman to tell me exactly what the name of the meat was that is my favorite. I just point at it every time (so gringo) and she always says it, but it’s so fast that I can never tell. It is “bistek de puerco con salsa de pasilla”. Now I can actually ask for it, and I’ll have to do a little research to see if I can find some recipes.

I would like to report that Zeiva’s tantrums are a thing of the past. Unfortunately, we’ve just mutated the beast a bit. I’ve started dinners at 5:30 and we’re pretty much ready for bed by 7-7:30. They still tend to stay awake until 7:45-8 pm, but the evenings have been drama free (so far, knock on wood). Unfortunately, despite them waking up on their own around 7 am, Zeiva has transferred her tantrums to the morning. I was really feeling like it couldn’t get much worse last week (in my tiny little frame of reference, of course), but silly me I just need a little perspective! At least last week, I could just be patient and let it ride its course – she would eventually fall asleep. Now I have to manage the tantrum while getting ready for the day and trying to get us all out the door in time for our buses. There’s always a lesson in there somewhere for me to not take things for granted!

Ha, ha – and my 9 pm update is that we got a tantrum this morning AND another doozie this afternoon. Zeiva ended up eating dinner on her own because she missed sitting down with us entirely while she threw herself around. She cried the whole way through her own dinner. And then, no joke, literally less than 2 minutes after it was all over, here she is having the greatest time eating watermelon. Those must be Django’s genes – he’s so moody! ;)

A random shot of Lucas and Zeiva busily and happily building with Lego's (the neighbor kids') while a torrential squall comes through - the didn't seem to notice.