Today I babysat Triné, the little niece who comes to my home every day. Gradually, after moving through every possible interesting thing I could show her to play with in my room, we began doing art with my beautiful selection of highlighters. She decided to draw the kittens I have from a photo album (Willie, and later Weenettee).
Here is Willie. However, Triné quickly grew rather demanding that I help her draw specific things that I couldn't understand, because:
A) she speaks only Spanish
B) she speaks super fast
C) she is three and can't pronounce r's and may or may not have a lisp. I can't tell what is up. All I knew was she kept saying "dad", but each time I'd help her the head of hers she'd get offended I didn't know how to do it right.
So I drew mine.
Very funny! She liked his hair. Also - both these pictures were taken by Triné. She figured out how to use my digital cam with alarming ease for a 3 year old, and proceeded to hold it and click photos of every thing in the house for the next two hours. Some pictures came out great, some, not so great. Over half were taken in the cave she built herself in my closet/cupboard. I don't have any of those uploaded yet, but here's what she looked like. Adorable!
I was grateful for her rampant picture taking though, because it allowed me to have some pictures taken in the home, without having to take them myself and feel like a privileged tourist remarking at the scenery or cultural differences and sending the news home.... Which is essentially what I'm here 100% of the time, and I'm always in a hella-guilt trip about my voice and privilege and all the uplifting things that surrounds that subject....
But look! Triné snapped a picture of Ana, my host-aunt! Ana was clearly taken aback by the shrieks and sudden propaganda that stopped her on her way into the kitchen. But I love this photo, and you can see the strange warehouse indoors-outside that is going on in the background, as well as bedrooms build into the warehouse ground floor.
I'll put up a whole album of her trippy pictures at some point, they're wonderful.
But soon she discovered the laptop, and began to write a long email full of "ppppppppp's" and "wwwwwwwwwwwwwww's" . Since she couldn't grasp what the deal is with the mouse pad, while playing the only game on my computer (Tic Tac Toe?) she opened up Photobooth...
So, that was exciting!
But after a long day of play and washing my clothes by hand (whee!), my energy level began to plummet. I told Ana later that I think today was especially exhausting since this is the most Spanish I've ever spoken in one day, and definitely the most effort I've had to make while trying to understand over such an extended period of time. Which is good! But hard! And I didn't end up napping, which suxx, but I did get a fruit popsicle full of mango chunkz! Which I snapped for the viewing pleasure of one and all. YUMM.
Now I'm leaving for Nicaragua for a week - should be really wunderbar! If I never come back, know at least looking for me will be easier there since the roads have names.
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