¡Feliz Dia Del Amor y Amistad!

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Well hello there everyone, Sorry it took me a week to write anything but I've been nice and busy travelling around and getting settled in at the Children's home here in Guadalajara!

So Alix and I arrived in Guadalajara on Monday evening after a 7 hour bus journey - reeeeeally nice bus though! :D Will looooads of leg room, tvs, lunch included etc etc! We were met by Lucy, our local representative, who seems really nice but freaked us out a whole lot more than we already were by telling us all about how dangerous mexico is, how we'll always get lots of wolf whistles etc etc etc...things we already knew anyway!
She took us to our hotel which was right in the center of the city, near the Cathedral, museums etc etc. It was a really nice place, had a swimming pool and everything!! Lucy had to work all day Tuesday so we had the day to ourselves to explore the city centre a bit and also to sleep in which we tried to do but woke up at 9:30 anyway as we'd gone to bed so early! We had a bit of a wander round the shops etc, decided to leave looking round the cathedral for another day since we're going to be here for so long. We also took a bus out to Tlaquepaque, which is a part of the city where there are loads of artesan shops etc, which was really pretty and lots of things to see. We'll go back there again some time as we only had about half an hour before we had to get the bus back to the hotel to meet Lucy to take us to hogar de niños...ARG!!!

We had to drive up and down the road about 6 times before we actually found the place...we were looking for number 2011 but we would be driving past 18?? then suddenly it would be 21??...it took a while! When we finally got there we rang the doorbell of the home and immediately loads of little girls ran to the gate....yes we were terrified!! The Mayora came out to meet us and we went through to her office. This was the first time we'd really had to speak any spanish since we arrived in Mexico, I think it went OK but the Mayora could immediately tell that I had learned my spanish in Spain as I have a very spanish accent apparently...I figured I should take that as a compliment - it's definitely better than speaking spanish with a scottish accent!
Lucy left us and the Mayora took us upstairs to our room which is next to the girl's bedrooms, it's small but we have our own bathroom (although we still have no hot water!) and the beds are comfortable. There's very little storage space though so our stuff is pretty much all over the place - not that we have a huge amount of it!

After the Mayora left there was a knock at the door and in come about 10 little girls, all speaking in fast spanish, asking our names etc etc and "¿puedo ser tu hija?" - can I be your daughter?
We were fairly overwhelmed but the girls were very cute and we just ended up taking lots of photos of and with them so they were happy enough.

I dont have time to describe the whole of the last few days here so I'll write down some of my thoughts and feelings since I got to the Hogar:

1, How on earth am I EVER going to remember all of these kids' names?!
There are just over 50 kids at the home, a few more girls than boys and generally aged between 6 and 13 although there are two or three who are a bit older. They mostly go home at the weekends so today (saturday) there are only about 11 of them there, hence having free time!
2, The kids are definitely city kids who grew up to be tough! There are lots of fights between both the boys and the girls. The hogar barely has any staff - the Mayores, another Man, a woman who comes to cook and Alix and me, so often the older children have a lot of power in controlling the little ones. I havent quite made up my mind about how I feel about this yet as it seems to promote bullying a bit, but at the same time...these kids speak two languages - spanish and aggression - and the latter is definitely more powerful when it comes to whether they pay attention or not!!
3, We've been having a bit of a hard time getting the kids to pay any attention to what we ask them to do...yes, we know that we've only been here 3 days and of course we dont have their trust or respect yet, but its been a lot harder than expected! By yesterday I was sick of being ignored and having fun made of my not too great spanish so ended up making a decision to be more assertive! I really dont like hitting the kids but yesterday i had to pull one boy along by the ear to get him where he was supposed to be!! I dont even like writing it down because I'm sure all of you will disapprove but at least I dont walk around with a stick yet which the other staff do!!!!!
4, If I had any less spanish that I do I would be absolutely screwed!!!! Kids are unforgiving when it comes to not understanding!! They talk so fast dont like having to repeat themselves....I always feel really bad when I just dont understand something they're asking me!
5, In the mornings when the children do their homework they all get separated into their school yeargroups. Alix has been put to help with the older ones who are learning English etc and I'm stuck with a bunch of girls who dont really like me yet, and who have another person to help them anyway so I dont really feel very usefull at all when it gets to homework time! Once my spanish gets a bit better i might be able to help more - I hope so anyway!
6, The hogar feels a bit like a prison so Alix and I were glad to be able to get away just now. The children have a play area at the back but it has high walls around it so you really cant see out - the front even has razor wire around it!!!!
7, The food is pretty good although breakfast consists of just a cup of Mexican coffee - very sweet with lots of milk - and some out of date bread! The Hogar gets given the unsold bread from a local shop for free. The lunches are good though, tasty unlike college food and theres plenty of it! Oh and NO RICE!!!
8, Today is 'el dia del amor y amistad' - the day of love and friendship. Nicer than Just a horrible commercialised day for couples because friends celebrate it too, but almost as irritating anyway when you're so far away from anyone and its so hard to communicate! Today I'm really missing home!
9, We are exhausted all the time, even though today we got to lie-in...until 8:15!!!! Usually we get up at 6:30am to wake up the girls!! We have a few hours in the afternoon free when the kids are at school but we keep ending up chatting to the Mayora and not getting much rest! I havent been to bed before eleving this many days in a row for a loooooooong long time!
10, I have annoyingly managed to lose my piece of paper that says 'do not lose' on the top which had everyones phone numbers and addresses on it! Hopefully Mum will send me them all again soon! ooops! very annoying!!

Anyways, enough writing for the moment, I didnt bring my camera with me today so no photos yet but i will put them on here as soon as I can!

I would love it if any of you would e-mail me and let to know how things are going wherever you are, I'm really missing hearing from you all! Even if you havent really done much, let me know how you are!
Write again soon, I hope all is well with everyone
Love and hugs
Jen

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