tires turned into little gardens in the coloniaThis weekend I went to Colonia Antorcha (where we do our kids ministry, Circulo Andante, every week) where a team was building a house. One of the families from the Circulo was receiving a house, yeay! While the team was building, some of the kids from the community took some of the scrap pieces of wood and made me cute little 'block art.' And they wrote in English, how impressive!
Speaking of my beloved Colonia antorcha and our families from the Circulo, one of the moms gave me this bamboo! I put it in my office and am trying really hard for it not to die. Although, I also don't want it to grow too big because my office is rather small, so I'm caught in the middle. Either way, it was very sweet and I love it.
This is the same mom who we built a Homes of Hope house for a few weeks ago. I had commented to her that we were worried about where we were going to have the Circulo ministry during the winter/rainy season because right now we have it outside on a basketball court and the park next to it. She graciously offered to let us use the rest of her land (about half a lot after her house was built) to put up tarps or a tent or a small structure to have the Circulo there. So exciting! Not sure exactly what we will put there, but it was so kind of her to offer up what little she has to us and the kids in the community.
The space between the beige/brown house with all the people and the white shack on the right is hopefully where we will be able to have some of the Circulo activites during the winter.I absolutely love working with my kids at the Circulo. I teach the 3 & 4th graders and we go to this same colonia twice a week and teach them math and reading. Recently I told my kids we were going to have a little test, and I had brought used paper from the base for them to write their answers on. Although I handed it to them with the blank side up, many of them flipped it over and freaked out telling me, "but it's in English!!!" hahaha I asked them to write their name, age, birthday and where they were born. Many of the kids were not born in Tijuana, but in other parts of Mexico, and one girl even told me she was born "en el otro lado"/on the other side - AKA the U.S. It's interesting about the border culture, everyone uses that phrase here, "the other side" to talk about the U.S. side of the border. I hardly ever hear anyone say "America" or "the United States." Everyone just knows what you're talking about when you talk about "el otro lado"...
They also wrote down their favorite color, subject in school (although not all my kids can go to school because they dont have enough money and you have to pay to go to school in Mexico, buying books, uniforms, etc). Another question was what their favorite activity is to do in their free time: most said play tag or hide and seek or jumprope or read or watch tv (although we had a discussion about whether or not watching tv is actually an 'activity' or just resting, as one of my boys thought). Finally, I had them tell me what they wanted to be when they grew up: teachers and veterinarians won by a landslide. My kids also figured out today that I speak English, when I got frustrated they weren't paying attention and starting scolding them in English. They looked shocked and said, "You speak ENGLISH?" I took it as a compliment, that these 8 and 9 year olds actually thought I was a native spanish speaker. I gotta take what I can get. :)
Karinn, Juan Francisco, Dulce, Andrea and Raquel from my class in Circulo Andante
Karinn, Juan Francisco, Dulce, Andrea and Raquel from my class in Circulo Andante
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