Day 6: All Quiet on the Western Front... (...Except for that Enthusiastic Corn Vendor)

9:55 pm

Today was just one of those slow and amazing days. I actually did some work today (Yes, Mom, I AM here for a reason, hehe). I went to the FAI (Save the Children Mexico) office and talked to a really nice guy there. My Spanish is already getting so much better. I think I understood about 98% of what he said to me. Unfortunately, though, my English is deteriorating rapidly. I'm finding it very difficult to construct complex sentences, and my copy-editor eye is just sailing over all my spelling mistakes. Today I honestly couldn't remember if the word "passion" was supposed to have two s's or not.

As far as the interview, it was very interesting. He gave me a lot of stuff to read. I can already tell that my work here is going to be fascinating, but heartbreaking. My specific project is researching the effects of immigration on the children that are left behind by migrant fathers and brothers. I will also concentrate on the changes in family dynamics, about what life in the campo is like for the geographic-bachelorettes. (Is that a word? I know they always talk about geo-bachelors.) I guess I should say the geographic single mothers, since that's what they are, anyway. Like I said, it's going to be fascinating, but heartbreaking work. I spent the entire afternoon just reading the studies the FAI guy gave me, but it almost wasn't even like work because it was so fascinating and I was out here on the back patio all afternoon; just enjoying the garden and the hummingbirds and the fresh mountain air. A guy passed by a little while ago, selling corn, and he was advertising his goods by yelling at the top of his lungs something like "eh-LO-teeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh." The thing is, he yelled it about 30 times in a row and we were laughing so hard we couldn't breathe. The word he was saying was Helotes, so I thought of home and smiled. I miss you all-- keep writing! Tomorrow we are taking a day trip to the campo just to scope things out. I hope you have a beautiful day!