Teach Me How to Dougie

Like most of our weekdays so far here in Huehue, yesterday and today were spent mostly at the orphanage. Yesterday morning we were greeted at the orphanage by a strange sight – almost all of the kids were gone at school. We had never seen the orphanage so empty before, and while it was nice for us to be able to focus on the younger kids and the older kids that were not in school for whatever reason, it gave the orphanage a very different air then it had had before. I ended up spending the morning in the baby room, which has become a place I gravitate towards at the orphanage. I have always loved babies, and because I know these babies have no parents to dote over them at the end of the day, I feel an extra sense of need to offer them love and comfort. The children at the orphanage are, in general, incredibly independent children, mostly out of survival I’m sure. By the age of 3, they feed themselves, dress themselves, walk themselves to the bathroom, and initiate play by themselves. But the babies here are still beautifully dependent creatures, and I enjoy so much being a person that feeds their needs, be it through giving them a bottle, changing their diaper, holding them, or simply smiling at them and tickling their little bellies. As I said before, there are two babies at the orphanage that are the smallest babies I have ever seen. They were most likely born prematurely, and although I don’t know their stories, I am so sad for the terrible things I’m sure their little lives have seen. After returning home for lunch and walking back to the orphanage, it was time for us to give our United States presentation. I started out with the boring stuff, showing off the map and the monuments in the U.S., and then we moved onto G-hug, Brooks explaining about American football and American food (hamburgers of course were our example – how stereotypically did we just describe the U.S.?), and the grand finale – Teach Me How to Dougie. We had a great time showing the kids how to Dougie, and although maybe only one or two caught on, it was still a fun and super cute way to break up their first day back to school. After the U.S. presentation, we practiced throwing around the paper mache football, and it was a huge hit with the kids. It was so cute to watch them try to throw the ball, and then attempt to kick it because that’s pretty much the only thing they know balls are good for. Laura and I spent the rest of our time hanging out with the preschool age children, attempting to help the Japanese volunteer teach them how to make an outline of their hand, and mostly just serving as a lap for the kids to sit on. Yesterday left us exhausted, and as I tried to communicate with Guatemalans at the grocery store on our way home and failed, I knew my limit had been reached. We ended up buying the makings for s’mores at the grocery store, and shared this awesome American dessert with our host family. They all loved it.

            Today Laura and I only lasted through a morning session at the orphanage (Brooks was sick), and after coming home for lunch we realized we were just too tired to make the trek back to the orphanage in the afternoon. It has been a difficult balance, trying to make the most of our time here without wearing ourselves down excessively. But I think that is a difficult balance to find in life in general, and is a lesson worth learning here. Hopefully our afternoon of rest will make us ready to get out and conquer tomorrow, and a full day at the orphanage.