To be a child...

Sidenote:  I was just about to cut and paste the text of this blog into blogger while listening to my ipod on shuffle and "Jesus to the Rescue" came on... I almost cried... I miss those WW kids!   But, it's a good segeway into this blog!  KIDS!

To be a child.  I think I’m learning how again this week. 

I talk like a child… or an adult that is always discussing things in the way of Taboo/Catch Phrase (such as shaving = erasing the hair on your face).  I like to think that I talk like a child.  It sounds more fun.  And, by talking like a child, it means that I learn like a child.  That’s why I made a lot of flashcards, with the help of Laura the kindergarten teacher, and with the help of my whole host family who joined me as we sat down at the kitchen table with children's textbooks from the 80s and pointed at pictures saying, "tu sabes?"  "tu quieres?" (you know? you want?).  Then, the mom and sister would cut the picture out and I would glue it to a flash card and the going deaf dad and sister would help me spell the word on the flashcard (which was challenging since I don't have a grip on the Spanish alphabet).   I think that learning in the ways of a child is one of the best things.  Ever.

I really like kids.  The YAV program has introduced the “Examen” to all of us, and Marcia took it to an additional level by having us read the book, Sleeping with Bread.  I decided to adapt it, merging it with Mara Abbott’s proposition of a Gratitude Journal (one of the best gifts my co-cake chef has ever given me), and every night, I write the things that brought me the most joy and made me feel closest to God as well as the things that did the opposite.  Every single day this week, my greatest joys have had to do with children.  I think I like kids.  I probably could have guessed that before I came to Guatemala, but now I know for sure.

Because I like them, this week has been one of the best weeks as I have lived with a fantastic new host family who have two great kids, ages 11 and 15, as well as a daycare/preschool with 24 of my new best friends, ages 2-7.  They are great kids!   Thursday, I had the opportunity to take pictures of all of them individually and I’m helping them make a birthday board (this was also a great excuse to get pictures of all my new best friends without being a creeper).  

Over the past week, I've been able to teach the kids some things... like Frisbee and Uno and silly hand clapping games with animal noises that I made up and attempted to teach with my limited vocabulary...

I couldn't figure out the word for horizontal, so our frisbee was thrown vertically...

But, the best thing that has happened from this past week is what they have taught me.That kids are different and all are the same.  I haven’t ever met a kid who is the same as another one.  I guess this is true for adults as well, but for some reason, we have the notion that we are obligated to hide our individuality. Kids haven’t caught onto that notion.  I really hope they never do.  Kids are different as individuals, but as a group, they definitely have a collective identity. 

For homework one day, I had an assignment to read and comprehend a page entitled, “Que Es Un Nino”.  (I am on my laptop and therefore don’t know how to type in Spanish on an English keyboard… my apologies!  If you know the shortcuts, tell me!)

Un nino tiene el apetito de un pirana; la energia de la bomba atomica; la curiosidad de un gato; los pulmones de un tenor y la imaginacion de Julio Verne; la timidez de una violeta; la audacia de una trampa de acero y el entusiasmo de un campeon olimpico. Les encata los dulces, las navajas, las sierras, la Navidad, los libros d laminas, el chico de los vecinos, el campo, el agua, los animals grandes; papa, los trenes.  Los domingos por la manana y los carros de bomberos.  Les desagrada las visitas formales, las normas, la escuela, las lecciones de musica, las corbatas, los peluqueros, las ninas, lo abrigos, los adultos y la hora de acorstarse. 

 

If you caught on to any of that, and you’ve ever met a kid, you’ll notice that there are some serious similarities in kids (case in point:  la energia de la bomba atomica… the energy of an atomic bomb).  I’m learning that it doesn’t matter if they speak Spanish, English, both, or neither.  It doesn’t matter if they’re sitting in the poop deck at Discovery Elementary, under a parachute at College Place Presbyterian Church, on a kick board at the Whitman College pool, on a cow in Touchet, or in an all concrete room that appears to once have been a garage with a leaky tin roof… collectively, they are the same.  They all want love, they all love attention, they all desire to show their individualities, they all show love in unique ways and receive it uniquely as well, they all like to play, they all are searching to learn, they’re all loved by God, and, at some level, they all act in the trust and faith that they know it is true. 

We can learn a lot from kids.  I sure did this week.  

The preschool/daycare

Eva reading with the kids... in Spanish!