Mañana por la Mañana

April 23, 2009

I have developed an early morning tradition that I like very much. For the past few weeks, I’ve been going to the local stadium with my host mom and her friend to do exercise. My hurt hip struggles through the walk there, and then my host mom and her friend use the long walking path while I jump rope and do strength training exercises on a big open court that faces the mountains. The other day I got two of the other gringos from my program to come to, so hopefully it will turn into a big group thing after a while. It’s also allowed me to develop a closer relationship with my host mom’s friend, Angie, who is wonderful. She and her 4-year-old daughter, Paulina, came over the other night to get haircuts from my host mom. I was thrilled because Paulina, who up until this point had been silent whenever I asked her anything, finally decided to come out of her shell. Actually, it was more like she ripped her shell off like Party Boy, hurling it into a screaming crowd, because once this girl got started there was no stopping her. She literally asked me questions for over 3 hours…without stopping. I loved it because I rarely get to hang out with younger kids here, and if there is one thing I have patience for it is inquisitive children.

I leave for a one week site visit tomorrow and return one week later. Our schedule is going to be PACKED, so I´m hoping to return with lots of good stories to tell. Paz!!!