Sonries y Lagrimas

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Cute little story:
We were at a salsa club (very fancy!) and the band was taking a break so I invited them over to sit at our table. We started talking about all the dancers on the floor, and I pointed out one man; he was very tall and skinny, and super old; maybe seventy years old, but acted way younger. He was dancing with all the women, young and old, and was great at it- he moved his legs in ways i'd never seen before! I asked the band members if they knew who he was... they said "yeah, his name is Ansiano... Here, I'll introduce you!" So they went and grabbed him, and they said "Make sure you say "Hola, Ansiano!" So I said "Mucho gusto, Ansiano!" he was silent for a second, looked at the band members, and bust out laughing... apparently that means like "Ancient One"... I told Emma, my host mother, about that later and she laughed and laughed and just said "Ohh, Gemma." she said that again tonight, when I told her how i tripped outside the bar, and felt so dumb. She looked at my shoes and was like "Ohh Gemma!" haha. She thinks I'm so silly.

Emma's not the only funny one; i was joking with Manuel that I never see him eat, and I thought he didn't eat at all! He just replied (totally serious) "I eat every third day." !! He has such a weird sense of humor, but i'm catching on. They were teasing me how I don't like spicy stuff, and he said my homework is to eat one chile a night!! haha.

I went to the orphanage again today, and it was much more saddening but also happier at the same time. For one thing, there were way more kids there, of a variety of ages. We brought them chalk, which they went crazy for, and we played tons of games. The kids were laughing and running around and seemed very happy. The sadder parts were how dirty the kids were- they had sand or dirt in their hair, mud all over their legs and arms, and snot on their faces. One little boy fell in a big pile of dirt, right next to a huge dead rat (looked like a kangaroo rat) and had mud all over him. He cried and cried, and the supervisors paid him no attention. Finally, after quite a lot of crying, I took him inside to get new clothes, which is when the supervisors swooped in. I guess they do'nt like people coming inside to see. They get suspicious that we're going to report something and the kids will be taken away. There were also a litter of newborn puppies, but at least three were dead already.

All this left me a little depressed, so I made a "Makes Anyone Happy" playlist. Includes:

Let Your Troubles Roll By (Carbon Leaf)
At The Zoo (Cat Stevens)
Obey Your Mother (Desmond Dekker)
My Sweet Lord (George Harrison)
I'm Sticking With You (The Velvet Underground)
Take Me As I Am (Wyclef Jean)
Pollen (Mirah)
Rollercoaster (M. Ward)
Boom! (Light Green Leaves)
Brown Eyed Woman (Grateful Dead)
December 1963 (Four Seasons)
Here In Your Arms (Hellogoodbye)

I dare you to listen to any of these, especially the Grateful Dead or Carbon Leaf, and not be in a super great mood!

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Photos

UNLA campus
The front of my school

UNLA campus
the main building, "inside".

My Room
Inside my room, pics of my family & friends