Melissa's Note

Hola Everyone!

Bienvenidos (Welcome) to my first note from Colombia.

Day 1 was short- we arrived at about 3pm (4 pm in the US) exhausted from six hours of plane travel. We got set up, explored the house, and got to know the people here. There are two other adoptive families staying here; one is two parents who adopted a 15 month old named Gaspar, he is VERY cute, and they leave on viernes (Friday). The other is a single dad adopting a boy, Marlon, who is just Ivan’s age. Somewhat to our annoyance, especially mine, he watches TV constantly. Let me tell you- there’s nothing more annoying than the Power Rangers in espanol (Spanish). Anyways, Tuesday night was trying-about fifteen minutes after I got on the internet, it died. We later found out the entire city of Cali was down, we didn’t get it back ‘til Thursday afternoon.

Day 2 was much better. That probably had something to do with meeting the kids for the first time, which was totally amazing. ;o) However, we didn’t meet them ‘til around 2:30, and it was SO hard to wait. I tried to do school, and I got one journal page done (my fellow sufferers in Gileskirk Humanities know what I’m talking about), but I simply could not concentrate on anything else. We got there before los ninos (the children) and had to wait in another room where they couldn’t see us, signing papers. Those must’ve been the longest ten minutes of my life. Then they took us into the playroom and there were the kids. I was the last one in, and so when I got there, mom and dad were already hugging Ivan and Tatiana, the oldest and the youngest, and Daniela was just standing there. I dropped my grocery bag of candy, ran over, and took her in my arms. ;o) It was so sweet. Then I hugged Tatia, and Ivan last. We gave them presents and played with them for a little while, and then it was time to go. So we all crowded into the back of the car- there are no seatbelts in the back anyway. Tatia on my lap, Daniela on Mom’s, and Ivan on Dad’s. The rest of the day was spent getting to know them and trying to communicate. Ok, and trying to connect to the internet. I really wanted to tell people! ;o)

Day 3 would be today. It seemed very long. Once again, I got almost no school done…I should probably journal again before I go to bed. I probably won’t. Evil me, I’ll regret it I’m sure. There were lots of tears today- the girls are very emotional and kept bursting into tears for no apparent reason. Once when Daniela was sobbing uncontrollably, huddled on her bed, I asked “Que es?” (What is, which is the closest I can get to what’s wrong) The only word I could discern from her was pelo, which means hair. I can’t imagine what about her hair was worth such drama, and I still haven’t figured it out, but Ivan asked her too, and she answered the same again. He just looked at her for a second, and then walked away, unconcerned, so I think it probably wasn’t too bad. ;o)

The kids are all very sweet. When we met them Daniela asked what was the name of her other sisters. We told her Nikki y Melissa. All of them have been calling Mom and Dad Momma y Poppy, which is SO adorable, and I just melt everytime they do. But it’s nothing compared to how I feel when they call me hermana (sister). ;oD

So yea…I’ll go through them all.
Ivan, for those of you who don’t know, is a boy. ;oP He is almost nine. He’s very quiet, and doesn’t talk a lot, although his laugh is ADORABLE. (I need more synonyms for cute) He has wonderful manners, always saying Gracias (ya’ll had better know that means thank you) and Pardon (I think you can figure out what that means). He’s not as openly affectionate as the girls, but I can still tell that he loves us. One of the first things he played with was Mom’s MP3 player, which has songs in Spanish on it. He now goes around the house singing “oh, la gloria de la cruuuuuz!” (oh, the glory of the cross) at the top of his voice. I love it. ;o)

Daniela is not quiet. At all. In that respect, at least, she is the exact opposite of Ivan. She’s totally rambunctious. She reminds me of Clare Rose when she was little. (she’s six) ;o) Yes, it does get annoying (and it’s only the second day…) but the good thing is, she’s very physically affectionate, hugging and kissing, and she goes around singing “May-lee-sah, May-lee-sah.” And I just want to scoop her up everytime she does. She’s very endearing.

Tatiana, or Tatia, is very sweet. She’s the just turned four year old, and there aren’t enough beds right now, so I sleep with her at night. She has the cutest little curls and chubby cheeks, and she reminds me of a moorchild. And when she doesn’t get her way she pouts, and crosses her arms, sticking out her lower lip by at least an inch. Which is naughty, but so cute I can’t help but laugh whenever she does it, and of course, that doesn’t help at all.

The word we hear most right now is Chocolate. We gave all the kids candy on the first day, and almost every minute since then they ask to have some.

The name of the lady who’s house we’re staying in is Reyna, and she broke her leg hiking in the mountains, because she fell, two days before we came. She’s close to sixty, I think, or maybe older. Two women came to pick us up at the airport. Carmensa is Reyna’s hermana. She’s very pretty. She said she was fifty-six, but she certainly doesn’t look it. She’s a petite, thin women, probably shorter than me (which is saying a lot!) Joana is our interpreter. She’s twenty-three, a student from Germany who majors in translation. It’s really cool, because she learned English in Europe, she has a heavy British accent. She’s really nice. She laughs a lot, and is really smart and really friendly. Actually, I keep thinking that she reminds me of Faith’s sister, Bethany.

There’s lots more to say about the house and the food and the city, but I think I’ll save that for the next note.
We’re all doing great, and I miss everyone. I love it here, but can’t wait to get back home. Love you all!