the baby house

On my way to a retreat this weekend in the mountains, and I'm really looking forward to it. It's like a weekend away where all the volunteers talk about their work, what it means to be here and we have a chance to relax. I think we also play camp-like games, like the trust fall or something - I don't know. But I am excited to get out of the city for a bit.

So here are a couple of pictures - of the baby house, and my car! It's what they call a camioneta - it's a Peugeot Partner, and I like it. I drive like an old lady, mostly because I usually have babies in the car with no car seats. Seriously. It's a problem. And because there was another volunteer that missed a speed bump and gave a tia a really bad bruise. In her defense, their speed bumps are all black. There's a very faint "LENTO" in front, but it's hard to see them.

One of my favorite kids at the moment is a little girl - she's almost 2 years old and she is hilarious. Every time I come in the house, or pull up next to the gate, she yells, "HOLA!" And when she's hungry, the word for hunger is "hambre (om-bray)" but she says "Hamble!! (om-blay)". She has this high-pitched scream that she uses whenever other kids try to steal her toys. Oh, and she's in the midst of potty-training right now, and it's not going very well. Let's just say I need to wash some clothes...

The other day I gave her my camera case to hold while I took some pictures - the tias were painting the room where the kids sleep, so I was trying to keep her distracted. Of course, I turned my back for about two seconds and the case ended up in a bucket of paint. :)

The other picture is the baby house. To the right of the front door is the room where they sleep, the kitchen is in the back, and on the left are a few rooms, including an office and a bathroom and then the playroom on the far left end of the house. And lots of room for playing outside. Every house here - every house - has a big black gate and fence that goes all the way around the house. Not necessarily privacy fences (ahem), but more like security fences. It's probably just as much for the stray dogs as it is for anything else...

So a few things I'm loving about Chile right now:

- La Vega. It's this huge farmer's market - like the Fulton St. market times 100. At least. It's full of fruit, veggies, lunch, people and it's super interesting.

- Humitas. I bought one from a Peruvian vendor at the farmer's market - it's crushed corn and chicken and spices (I think? I don't even know) wrapped in banana leaves and steamed.

- The standard greeting. No matter where you are, if you enter a room to join people for a meeting, for work, etc., every person gets a kiss on the cheek. And the same goes for when you leave. It makes me smile to see people on the subway giving each other kisses when they get off.

- The fact that everyone thinks I'm younger than 28. :) Maybe they're lying, but I don't know, and I don't care.