wata + more

Today doesn´t feel like Tuesday...it feels more like a Thursday. Anywho, a lot has happened since the last time I updated this here bloggy blog. Hna. Norma and Milagros came back last Wednesday. They were in Utah for two months. I guess a former volunteer paid for their trip and for Milagros to have surgery on her face (she had been in an accident before she came to the Hogar that left a lot of scarring and disfiguring in her face). Hna. Norma is like the big boss that runs things around here. So it was nice getting to finally meet her. She has a great laugh...the contagious kind. I love it! Friday I spent the night at the Hogar. My shift was from 8:00pm-7:00am. I was supposed to get the girls up at 5:30am to wash their clothes before breakfast...but I accidentally slept in until 6:30am. Mami Adela seemed upset at first but then just made fun of me.

Saturday morning, Meghan and I went to Oswaldo´s brother´s wedding. The ceremony was at a Catholic church here in Cusco. There were no bride´s maids or groom´s guys (I can´t think of what they´re usually called right now). Instead, the padrinas and madrinas were up in the front with the bride and groom. They sat in some fancy shmancy chairs in front of the priest for most of the ceremony. After, we all piled into vans and taxis and headed for a place near Pisaq called Wata for the post-ceremony festivities. Wata is a little over an hour away. Again...I know I always say it...but it felt good to get out of the city!

Meghan and I sat at the big bridal party table with the novios and their padrinas/madrinas...it was more than a little awkward at times. Everyone else sat on long wooden benches facing us. We were greeted by some of the town elders...who kept dumping confetti and glitter on our heads as a sign of welcome. I´m pretty sure I still have some of it in my hair. Most of the people there spoke Qechua more than they did Spanish...so the MC kept cracking jokes in Qechua. They must have been funny because everyone kept laughing. Meghan and I laughed right along with them...until the lady next to Meghan called us out on not understanding a word the guy was saying. Meghan and I received two of four ¨special invitations.¨ When we asked Oswaldo what this meant, he told us it meant that we had to bring nicer gifts. The bigger the box the better. After chowing down on some delicious lechón and other tasty food...it was time to give the gifts. Everyone lined up in front of the newly weds and gave their gift one at a time so everyone could see who was giving bigger gifts. On the table next to the couple were cases of beer. In exchange for their wedding gift, you got beer. Right before the dancing got started...the rain came. And it came hard and with fury. So we all scurried into the rooms of the house (there were probably over 300 guests) to get warm. Then we had a power outage. perfect. Meghan and I ended up staying huddled in that room until 6:30pm...when we were finally able to catch a ride back to Cusco. The roads were pretty gnarly...with parts of the river overflowing and flooding parts of the street. But we made it home safely.

The next morning, we enjoyed sleeping in to the sound of more heavy rain. For lunch we made our way to the bakery, where we celebrated all the birthdays between August and October. The food was amazing. We ate and danced until 6pm. After, we went to go find the Nazarene Church that I have been meaning to check out. After a 45 minute bus ride and short hike up a few streets, we found the address that was on the card the Pastor had given me. But when we rang the doorbell, we were informed that the church had moved. So that search will continue again next Sunday.

As I type this, I am in the computer lab here at the Hogar. My schedule has changed again. Yesterday we had a huge staff meeting that lasted for three hours. It was the first meeting with Hna. Norma back and there was a lot to cover. The meeting got pretty nasty when it came time to talk about night shifts and time off for some of the educadoras. There are six educadoras who work closest with the girls. They usually take turns staying the night so that there is always a staff member in each of the dorms every night. They started arguing about their free days and in the end I was asked to join in on the rotations. So today marks the first day for my ¨new¨ schedule. My work shift will start at 6pm every night when I go to pick the girls up from school. I´ll walk them home and help them get washed up and ready for dinner at 7pm. After dinner I´ll help with homework and whatnot until it´s time for bed. I´ve been told I can plan some night activities...movie nights...swing dancing perhaps? So it should be pretty chill. The hardest part for me will be getting up at 5:30 every morning. But I will have the days off which I am excited about.

Right now the girls are all down stairs watching a movie on our brand new TV and DVD player. They were gifts from the 20 visitors we had today. They came from Utah and we spent the day giving tours and selling the girls´ handicrafts. Visitors meant more good food and lots of dancing...woohoo! The girls had a blast.

Well it sounds like the movie just finished so I´ve got to make the rounds.