I've been living with unique, wonderful, beautiful, funny, loud, creative and simply amazing Bolivian girls for more than two months. If someone is still wondering why I always call them chicas then it's because a girl in Spanish is chica. And you hear and use that word here all the time, I'm having a hard time calling them anything but chicas :)
Now I can say that I finally know their names. I'll admit I still mess up sometimes but it's a lot better than in the beginning, when all of them looked the same to me and their names was a mystery. Some of them have normal names such as Margarita, Karolina, Mikaela, Katerine, Erika, Marta, Klara. I learned those quickly. It was harder with names like Flor-Delicia, Anair, Sileya, Hulda-Dalet, Gigliola, Nigdaleny, Aracely, Abisag-Sunamita, Isely-Yuleny, Franziely, Yarelin, Candida, Maralila, Genny-Paola, Bebelin, Consuelo, Edna Len. I really like my curly friend's name Lady Laura :) That's what everyone calls her - sounds so beautiful. And one VERY beautiful girl is called Segunda Isabela. The most interesting part is that "segunda" means "the second". My first question was - Is it because you're the second daughter of your family? :D But no - that's not the reason for her name. She got her name because her grandmother was also called Segunda.
While I'm still talking about names, I'll mention some boy's names: Tito-Israel, Diego-Jesus, Fran-Antonio, Roy-Cirilo, Alan-Jair, Osuin-Rudy, Romel, Jose Raul, Anderley, Edson-Luis etc. Beautiful, isn't it? I heard that it's baby boom in Latvia (and beyond). Well, dear mommies-to-be, here are some good ideas for names :) I think I'll call my daughter Nigdaleny-Yuleny :) And my son will be Osuin-Antonio :D
Back to my chiquitas. Since I can say that I know them pretty well, I can tell something more about them. It would take longer time to get to know them personally but since they have so much in common I can describe them as a whole.
I really love the mornings when they get up late and then it's a common situation that there are 5-6 girls combing their hair at the mirror in the hallway. I don't understand how they can see themselves in the mirror but the result is always flawless - hair is tightly pulled back and tied in a ponytail. It is the most popular hairdo - VERY tight ponytail so that their hair look very sleek :) Some girls are cooler and they have hair gels to make their hair more sleeker. Other use water. So they look like they have wet hair most of the time. When I braid their hair I have to be very strong and make the braid really tight otherwise they think they look tousled. One day one of the chicas saw my hair and rushed to comb my hair because she thought I had tousled hair :D The problem was that my hair wasn't sleek and pulled tightly together.
If we talk about clothes they rotate all the time. They borrow from each other regularly. And it's interesting that the little ones take clothes from the older girls and vice versa. They wash and brush their clothes VERY thoroughly - with a sharp brush. And they brush their clothes so often holes appear in them. And it's very normal that they wear these clothes with holes. Both big and little girls. When they arrived here for the first time it was so sad for me to see their holey clothes during check-up but now I understand the situation a little better. Holes doesn't mean the clothes are very old and worn out, they just have been washed thoroughly.
They are always hungry! You can't give them too much food. It's fantastic to see them by the lunch table. They all sit down, honestly sing the song, say a prayer and as soon as the last letter of "Amen" is said they grab the food bowls and empty them in a second. Even though there is a laddle in every bowl they never wait their turn. They take their own spoons and draw as much as they can :D And then they get really big portions! And then 30 minutes later they approach me and ask me to sell them some cookies :D Those who have some money can by some snacks but many of them don't have any money. So they look for fruit in the trees. They climb the trees, try to knock them down with bamboo sticks and alleviate their eternal hunger. My snack shop is open at certain time. I don't sell them anything after 8:00 PM. Neither do I during afternoon siesta. And then they make puppy faces and tell me how hungry they are but it's not always true. And then I tell them to have some water if they're hungry. They think it's very funny advice. But they have started to use it themselves, they say with irony - Are you hungry? Have some water :D More about my snack business. I return to dorms after the kitchen has been cleaned up, it's around 6:30 PM. They I tell everyone that if they want to buy anything they have to come now of never: Compra aurita o nunca. And then they laugh when I say it. I ring the bid bell (metal tube with a metal stick) and announce it loudly so that everyone hears. And lately, when I enter the dorms some smiling faces await me and they ask me for permission to ring the bell and make the announcement. I allow them, of course. So each night there is someone else saying: Compra aurita o nunca : )
I mentioned once that they love to sing. And they do it powerfully and loudly! A Sundayschool group usually sings a song during Sunday evening service. And then during the following week all girls sing this song, it's their top song then! I have learned some of the songs already. I'll be able to perform in Latvia :D And it's becoming cooler and cooler to learn a song in English. The above mentioned Lady Laura is the most active singer - she knows 6 songs in English. The older girls are asking me to teach them "My Heart will go on", they have this song in Spanish here. I remember the chorus. They ask me to sing it time after time. I'm their radio :) Can anyone post the lyrics in the comments? I never have time to goggle them. (It's a really serious request :) )
It's interesting to watch how they change their "best friends". They always walk around in twos or bigger groups. And usually they hold onto each other tightly or hold their hands. But one day your best friend is Rosalia but the other day it's Wendy Len and so on... I have not figured out yet what causes this friendship change but it happens. Maybe it has to do with ability to borrow something from each other. They are VERY observant - they always notice if anyone has something new or different. If I take something to my room (I have to walk by 5 of 7 rooms in order to get there), all the girls carefully watch what I'm carrying. Some ask what have I got there, some ask if they can have it :) It happens every time I carry a letter or a parcel to my room. They know almost everything about each other. Informations spreads very quickly here through "wireless internet". If anyone has stomachache or they have seen the dentist, if anyone's parent had come to visit ad brought something tasty, if anyone has found some food somewhere, if anyone had a fight with their friend, if anyone got a bad mark and so on - everyone knows it. OK, I'm a little over-exaggerating saying that ALL girls know it, bet there are very few who doesn't know it. They know when I come and when I go. They see me from afar when I come home from school and greet me. And it's become more popular to call me Teacher Liene. When there are serious issues to deal with, I'm Profe Liene, when they simply want to greet me, I'm Teacher Liene. Even the little one have learned it even though they don't take English classes yet. Some girls call me Liene Dientes - they have given me a new last name which means Teeth in Spanish :D That's due to daily tooth check-up at night, of course.
They all are very, very responsive to jokes and laughter. Where you see several girls together, there is laughter. And they laugh about EVERYTHING! Only some of them need a special approach to make them laugh but I have found some ways :) And some of them even have a REALLY good sense of humor. The more my Spanish improves, the more our jokes :)
I wanted to mention some girls. Marina, for example. There was nice moment with her - I go to my room one night, she asks me to stop by her room because she wants to give me something. I wait and she comes out with a small bun. Her mom brought it during the day and she wanted to give it to me. I offered to share it with her because I know how much she would like to eat it but no - she saved it for me. Very, very sweet...
Then I wanted to say something about Mikaela. She was the "cocinera" this week - they main kitchen worker. And I get to spend much time talking, laughing, singing with the girls who have kitchen duty. And one day she and her helper Dalia (a really cool girl with a fantastic personality who makes me laugh all the time) come to me and want to give me a hug :) And they say that we're friends. Mikaela says - I have never had a grown-up girlfriend besides my mom... and that night when we walked to the dorms together Dalia put her hand on my shoulder un started to pray: Thank you God for Teacher Liene. Thank you that she gives us wisdom and helps us speak in English correctly :) So sweet! I wish I could describe Dalia's personality so you could understand completely what she is like... I have never met such person before. Velta says she's very interesting, too. I have not figured out yet if she's joking all the time or that's just the way she is that all her words seam to be jokes... whatever the truth is, it's always very merry to be with her.
When I talk about one girl another comes into my mind that I would like to tell about. I could tell you something special about all 60 of them. But I don't have so much time. There are other events to describe. I'll tell more about my chicas another day :) I sometimes wonder... maybe God is preparing me to have many, many daughters in my family :D If I'll survive with 60 girls them you can entrust me any other number :D
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