Still Not Done

Today was extremely stressful. It turns out the varnish ruined a handful of the tiles. We tried it on a spare, and it seemed to work fine, but we didn’t take into account that the tile is standing upright, and gravity will make the marker run. I can’t even begin to explain how upset I was (and am), especially knowing there is nothing I can do. In addition, we still haven’t finished, and today I went out to buy lamination paper to put over it. Don Flores says this is the only other option—so tomorrow, on Saturday, I’m off to el comedor to finish this mural. I could wait until Sunday morning to do it, since tomorrow is el Dia de la Pachamama and I should be celebrating, but I’m too driven and frustrated to wait another day. It’s going to happen tomorrow, end of story.

I may try and fix up a few of the biggest mistakes on the ruined tiles—at least where it’s most important with names being unreadable. But when told something was wrong, Amalia couldn’t find the mistake—so I guess it’s not as bad as I seem to make it. Laura also tried to make me feel better that even if there are a few blips, in the end I accomplished a lot more than past volunteers, so the motivation and initiative will be truly appreciated for years to come (since I hope this mural stays up for quite some time).

After a stressful beginning, I took my frustration out on helping the mothers cook, which kept my mind occupied. I had also baked cookies for dessert especially for the mothers to thank them for all of their help. During lunch we chatted about all sorts of things. They asked questions about whether or not Americans had a problem with Obama being black (I said the discussion was more about whether or not he was Muslim), what was a marshmallow (they asked if it was a fruit), and what is peanut butter (and what do we use it for). Most of their questions concerning American culture and food came from what they’ve seen on the Simpsons. Then, Amalia asked if soup kitchens existed—which they do—and she was surprised that a first-world country like the U.S. would still have enough poor people to need soup kitchens. Also, Adela talked about what she heard concerning the U.S. kicking the Native Americans out of their homelands, and even the rumors that the government kicked them out of the country entirely.

It was an extremely interesting meal, and it was one of the first times they had asked so many questions about where I come from. And it ended with oohs and ahhs and requests for the recipe of the chocolate chip cookies. They were all gone within 15 minutes!

I just hope tomorrow goes smoothly. This has been my longest week since I’ve been here and I want it to end. The fact that its dragging into a Saturday isn’t helping either.