hop in my sailboat let's dump tea in the harbor

these pictures are from boston

i

well, the last collage, i promise

juana and genesis

lupe and her daughters

edy, jose antonio, and wee sister

ana and bryan

kenia and me

morena and me

andrea carolina and me

send me on my way

yeah i made another collage click on it

don tito, the keeper of knowledge

a farewell party for me

the cake is chocolate and i love it

my legacy...one of three babies named caitlin, which of course is actually spelled "keyli"

26 people who live in las delicias

wendy's quinceañera!

you've probably heard of a quinceañera, probably in a special text box in your spanish book called "cultural notes" or "growing up in latin america." today i went to wendy's quinceañera. it was very, very similar to a wedding. wendy's grandfather even gave her a ring at the mass. below you can see all of the ladies and gentlemen of honor with wendy and the priest.

ring boy looks at ring box with gusto

wendy is documented

the ladies of honor admiring the bride, er, 15 year old

lookin fly on the altar

wendy's cousin jaime makes her exit into the great masses

rudy enjoys an ice cream

back at the house, after an entrance procession set to music provided by the dj, wendy dances the traditional waltz with her main gentleman and then with all of the other gentlemen

the ladies join them

wendy and her main gentleman

do-si-do

this cake cascade is nicer than my life

wendy attacks!!

waitin for cake

cecy (wendy's aunt), jaime and kelly (cecy's daughters)
this is a funny picture

a very fancy event. morena said she'd lend me nice clothes for it, which ended up being the shirt you see above and a jean miniskirt. but other people also came dressed like that. i felt like i was straight out of the party in the usa music video. on the front it says "BIKE CRAZY go to heaven well on wreels ALSO ORRELLGOING HEAVEN american sexy biker ride on the bike" and on the back it says "Exdmss your possnalhp in a from and mona in fhcahahsur mnnuor AVENGERS me nar the nerhuon toub ACOLESCENTS CROWD." looks like somebody got drunk at the typesetting machine. also, the shirt has a funny little hood that fluttered behind me in the many backs-of-pickups that i rode in today.

congratulations wendy. your birthday has been excellent, and i even thought the cake was moist. her parents are both in the states and were not present. kinda sad. i am thinking about going to the bronx and meeting everyone's brothers and sisters and aunts and cousins and whatnot.

two photos of small children and one photo of an abyss

spring forward, fall on your face

so remember how i was sick. turns out it was e. coli. i got the lab results right as i was feeling better. it was just a little bit of e. coli. i did feel a sense of accomplishment because i 1) exterminated e. coli without antibiotics and 2) you know your medical spanish is getting solid (no pun intended) when you can get the results of your stool sample tests over the phone in spanish. while i was on the phone i was thinking "damn, i know the word for leukocytes, i am the coolest." i was also thinking "nice lab lady, you looked at my poop." that's pretty much the end of the story.

the other two bunnies died the morning after christina aguilera. no broken legs or anything, just dead. sad. we now have three little bunny graves under the avocado tree, marked with little round rocks. now that we have buried things in the backyard we have really lived here. the only thing i can consistently keep alive is the compost pile, but to my credit, it is thriving. also we have a grill made out of a hubcap, and that means we live here too.

this week at work, i was limboing at the daycare, and after clearing the bar i hurdled forward and fell down and ripped my pants and cut my knee. and guess who thought it was hilarious? all of the small children. cause that's how dedicated i am to bringing joy to children. i have two weeks left here and then i fly away to dc. please eliminate all vestiges of winter.