las cositas.

It's always the little things. They stick with you the most. And, when you spend all of Semana Santa with your boys, there are bound to be un montón of little moments. Like when they discover that you have way more freckles than they do. And then proceed to count your freckles. All of them. Or when you make a game out of chasing Chris down before dinner because he nabbed your flip flop. Or when they become obsessed with "down by the banks of the hanky panky" when you teach it to them. Even though they have no patience to wait for "Ker-plunk, you're out!" Or when they inform you that you and so-and-so are twins since you share the same popsicle color. Or when you watch Jose sprinkle chocolate chip muffin on his refried beans. It adds flavor, obbbviously. Or when you find three or four boys using you as a recliner as you watch an afternoon movie together. And then cutely fall asleep like that.

It's the little things <3

thursday is the new friday.

Ever since arriving to Guatemala, I've heard two things: Semana Santa is a can't-miss-event, and Antigua is the place to be for it. I thus made it my goal to catch at least some bit of it, despite working an around-the-clock schedule leading up to Easter. Upon some local consulting, I found out that Thursday night was the best time to go. Done.

A group of us headed out after the kids were asleep. It was then that we caught all the action. From seeing the cathedral lit solely by candlelight, to watching the procession of the stations, to observing artists intently at work out on the streets, it was so worth it. These alfombras, or carpets, they work on are incredible. I'm talking street-sized pieces of art made out of anything from colored sand to wood shavings to flowers to even fresh produce!

After spending all night there (literally), we were ready to hit the hay. But we instead said "hey" to our little munchkins as we returned to NPH just in time for our 7am shift.

confession.

Dearest blog,

It may seem as though I haven't updated recently. And while this is true, I haven't exactly been MIA from the blogging world. To tell you the truth, I wrote a post for another blog. I know, I know. It's just that it's this incredibly-impressive-blog-consistently-updated-by-the-darling-and-fashionable-Katie-Nguyen. I was completely flattered a few weeks back when she asked me to guest post. "Of course I'd love to!" I replied. Sooo, that's what I've been doing. I'll even share the link with you so that you don't get too jealous..

http://itsyowyow.com/2012/04/08/guest-post-by-kristina-nicchi/

All my love,

Me

kristina, tía kristina.

How is Holy Week different from every other week? There is no school. The library is closed. The kids are down in the sections. And we get to join them!

Just like Christmas time, Easter is another opportunity for us volunteers to work down in the sections as tíos y tías. Unlike Christmas time, I am now in the boys' house as opposed to the babies' house. I am looking forward to the change of pace and, of course, having plennnty of time to hang out with my little rascals. I'm predicting lots of paper airplanes, soccer games, smelly socks, pirate bedtime stories, gross burping, and other boyish things :)

lookin' spiffy.

For the past few weeks, there has been a dance competition every Saturday. The theme this time around was the local Guatemalan dance! So, naturally, all the competing sections dressed up in la traje típica for their performance. If these spiffed up kids (with fake mustaches and all) don't make you totally swoon, then I don't know what will..

señor evans.

Instead of working last week, I took un poquito de vacaciones since Dom came to visit! It had been a long time coming, but was well worth the wait. The week started off greeting him at the airport with a "Señor Evans" sign. From there we headed to NPH where I gave him the grand tour. It concluded in el comedor at dinnertime, in which all the girls just HAD to get to know the Justin Bieber look-a-like (ha). As we were leaving, a group of boys caught up to us. We had a conversation a little like this..

Cluster of 13 year olds: "Kristi! Who's that?" "Your brother?"

Me: "Haha. No, no. He's my boyfriend."

Cluster: "Ohhh.. Un be-so! Un be-so!"

Me: "Too bad guys.. he doesn't understand Spanish."

[Pause]

Quick-on-their-feet cluster: "One kiss! One kiss!"

Us: "Hahaha."

[Kristina blows a kid-friendly kiss that Dom cheesily catches]

Cluster: "Ah, come on.."

Second stop: Antigua. We visited the Choco Museo, ate delicious banana bread, hiked El Cerro de la Cruz, and enjoyed a rooftop dinner of enchiladas and beers. Later, it was lake time! It was there that we entered typical tourist mode of taking in sun, playing card games, attempting to swim, hiking, and lots of eating. Overall it was a wonderful, wonderful trip with my non-Spanish-speaking Aussie :)

a little irish spirit.

If you thought Saint Patrick's Day flew right by me just because I'm in Central America, you are wrong my friend. I celebrated it not once, not twice, but tres times!

I first celebrated on Thursday with my English class. I taught them vocabulary and shared how I used to make leprechaun shoe-box traps as a kid. Sam and I then took all our students outside to play a game with the Irish song, "Bonnie." Later that night, I headed down to visit my little boys. Since they always ask for a bedtime story, I went with a festive one. And, of course, I included the importance of wearing green. When I went back on Saturday to check, I was definitely able to do my fair share of pinching! Unfortunately, they just countered it by pinching back (even though I wore a TON of green haha).

On the actual day, I spent the morning making irish soda bread with the classic Healy recipe. Even without finding buttermilk down here, it turned out really well! Once day turned to night, we had ourselves a good time by festively donning temporary tattoos and heading to the irish pub in town. It was lots o' fun!