The highlight of my day was when Lorenzo and his buddy, Christian, decided to play with the stove in my classroom during Lorenzo's playtime. They cooked me eggs, sausage, fried platanos, fried bologna, hot cocoa, coffee with extra sugar and fresh juice. And more eggs. And pancakes. I may not be hungry for a long time just thinking about all of the food I pretended to eat.
I asked Lorenzo if he ate lunch yesterday, since there was no Breakfast Program. He said no. Then I asked if he had breakfast. Nope. My heart dropped. I asked if he ate at all yesterday. He said yes. He had chicken and something else. My ears stopped listening at chicken because I was shrieking for joy in my head. Lorenzo had chicken yesterday!
After all of the cooking I showed Lorenzo and Christian how to use the toy blender. They had never seen a blender before. We made liquados (milkshakes) with sound effects and everything. Then I suggested instead of just feeding me, they share with Belinda or Don Juan. They were not keen on that idea, but I didn't catch on fast enough. Playing with girls' toys in the safety of the classroom was fun, but I didn't realize they didn't want to let anyone else know they were not playing according to their gender roles. I convinced them to take drinks out to Don Juan and Marlin. The drinks were well received, but I was sad to see that when we returned to the classroom the boys never touched the cooking stuff again. They got out trucks and fireman stuff. :(
The low point of my day was when one of the mothers of the Breakfast Program borrowed my lice comb, filled it with live lice and left it for me to clean. I used that special shampoo today and Marlin combed out my hair. She said all she could find were baby eggs. Jacky took a look too and found a few more eggs, but I was not as infested as I thought.
It was really strange to me that not one kid or adult commented at all when I washed my hair, walked around with a towel on my head for ten minutes, and then sat while Marlin combed out my hair. Lice is such a fact of life that not one single person commented. In fact Don Juan and some of the boys helped look through my hair for eggs. I'll admit I was a little embarrassed at the start of the process, but when I realized nobody cared, I stopped caring too.
I am washing all of my clothes and bedding in cold water, because that is all I have, and drying them for a really long time. My dryer doesn't get that hot, but hopefully it gets hot enough to kill lice. I am still staying pretty calm, but when I saw the enormous pile of clothes and bedding that need to be washed, it did feel overwhelming.
One of the Moms - the same one who borrowed my comb for her louse infected child, said the same thing I was saying yesterday with a little twist. I said I am now officially part of the Breakfast Program after getting lice. She said I am now officially Catracha (Honduran) because I have lice. I don't think that all Hondurans have lice. But sadly I do think everyone in her world does.
My lice comb is now clean, thanks to Don Juan's help. I will never leave a used lice comb lying around at the Breakfast Program again.
Today I was having a "discussion" with someone who keeps blaming me for something that is not my fault. I took Jairo's advice from the day before he left and stood up for myself. I said it is not my fault and explained why. Unfortunately the person was not listening. They were more intent on telling me that other people were mad at me too. Finally someone I never expected to come to my aid stepped up and took my side! It felt great. I am going to continue to stand up for myself in a respectful way.
