Los niños de Misión México Albergue (the kids of Mission Mexico orphanage) - Part 2: The Pequeños

Angel (pronounced An-hel).  Angel was 11-ish and a bit of a cheeky monkey(-:

Rueben, 10-ish...A lovely soft moment from the younger brother of Candy (see further below). 

   

 

Victor, 10-ish.  Victor gave us his hat as a present on our last day.  Such a sweety!

Candy, 11.  Oh so photogenic and one of Petrina's best little Spanish tutors and 'translators'.  Petrina had a real soft spot for Candy, she really was sweet just like her namesake.

Yoni Dos (Jonny # 2), 11-ish.  ''Cun i huv my fuud please?''

His favourite sentence was 'can I have my food please?'.  Yoni had was always scheming for extra food and trying to get into the kitchen...cheeky monkey!

Angelica (12), Maria Dos (Maria #2, 15), Candy (11). 

We will never forget Angelica (An-hel-ica) and her distinctive and peircing rendition of ''A-Comiiiiir''.   'Acomer' means 'its time to eat' and Angelica would manage to inform the entire house from the one spot with her huge bellow!

Juanito (12), Jimmy and Angel, showing off their surfing photos on the side of one of the orphanage 'buses'.

This was one of the 2 vans that would fit about 30 kids in on the way to the beach on Sundays.  Usually there would be about 2 or 3 kids to a seat!  This is quite common in Mexico, where only the driver is required to wear a seatbelt.  And no joke, in the space between the drivers seat and the front passenger seat there was a plastic chair (completely unsecured of course).  But when resources are at a premium you can't waste the potential extra seating space. We both had the privilege on sitting in the chair 'especial' a few times (-:  Ahh, good times.

Alejendro (9) and Junior.

Alejandro's classic 'spanglish' lines were ''he pooonch'' (transaltion: 'he - that is, another kid - puched someone) and ''cun i hep wit da pun o agua?'' (Translation: 'can I help with the pan (bread) or water´-- see our blog on The food at Mission Mexico - a sneak peak 'en la cocina' for context on 'the pan'!).  All the kids called any kind of beverage 'agua', whether it was juice, milk or water.  Sometimes one of the kids were rostered to serve the lunch of the volunteers (and they mostly all loved any excuse to to go into the kitchen - usually they would scheme as to how to get extra food while in there though - so this was a sought after job!).  So if they asked what drink you wanted, you had to make sure you said 'agua purificada', otherwise you could end up with one of their high-protein rice, soy or maize based drinks (horchata or taxcalate), but ''¡No me gusta!'' (I don't like it!).  These drinks are so popular in Mexico and you can buy them in every comedor (restaurant).

Da da daaaa...the infamous Taxcalate drink prepared (in the bucket) and the powder (resting above).  Mmmm, brown maize-y goodness....No me gusta!

Tascalate and comida (lunch!) ready to be served for the pequeño kids

Candy, Steve and Ally

Ricardo, 13-ish. ''You Chee-na?'' Like many of the kids, Ricardo had a facination with Asian people.  He asked a Chinese gentleman whilst we were out one day what nationality he was.  But rather than using that polite wording, he bellowed out ''you Chee-na?''.  To which the gentleman replied back in Spanish, ''Have some respect''!  He learnt a lesson that day.  See additional comments about Ricardo below.

Juanito 12 ish

Juanito and Ricardo were initially NOT a fan of Steve's.  He took  them on as a challenge to have these two on his side.  As you can see by the above two photos he was successful.  Juanito was the toughest of the kids at the orphanage, he had run away about 6 times and definately knew how to fight.   If you had him on your side things seemed easier.  Both boys would give Steve big hugs and became quite free in their discussions with him.  Juanito led two others on a run away excursion a few days before Christmas, it was the prayer of Pam's and all of us that they would return for Christmas... and they did.  They are such special boys.

Steve, Luz and Petrina.

Luz (pronounced 'loose') means 'light' in Spanish; but her full name is even more pretty - its actually Luzerindera.  Reminds Petrina of 'Cinderella'!  She is one of the most 'huggy' kids we've ever met (she usually came up for an average of about 10 hugs a day from Petrina!)...She's also very cluey.  She made us a handmade card when we finished up at at Mission Mex (MM).  Awww.

Luz also granted Petrina the ultimate complement on one of the last days of our time at MM...One of the children was speaking to her in English when Luz interjected in Spanish.  The other child said, speak English, ''she no knows Spanish'' to which Luz replied, ''¡No! Ella habla Espanol ahora'' (no, she does speak Spanish now)!  It was so sweet(-:  

The problem with these kind of complements though, is that you get lulled into a false sense of security that your Spanish is actually improving!  Then the next moment something happens that totally shatters your confidence, like you make a mistke with some really basic word and the kids think its hilarious.  Petrina's personal favourite blooper was when she mistakenly said ''¿Necesitan pastel de dientes?'' (do you kids need a cake made of teeth) instead of ''¿Necesitan pasta de dientes?'' (do you need toothpaste?).  

Meche, 11.  ''Si, pero....''

Meche (short for Mercedes) could also be called 'Luz's partner in crime'.  Equally street smart and cunning!  Her usual line was ''Si, pero....'' (Yes, BUT....)!

The two other 'frases de pequeeños' (phrases of the pequeños) that we will remember the most are ''one serviette,  please'' and ''one cup please'' (rather than 'a cup ' and 'a serviette'!  They were trying so hard at English!).  Due to past bad behaviour with rolls toilet paper (you can imagine the fun that would have been had between 60 kids playing with rolls of it!), the kids now had to use serviettes, and had to get them from the volunteers who were the only ones with a key to the locked serviette drawer.  I swear getting serviettes was all I did some days!  Also, they had to ask the volunteers for cups from the locked kitchen, which we had to retrieve after they'd finished.  This was because, along with the socks, and 'chanclas' (thongs), their was definately a black hole for cups at MM!