La Casa Hogar

The days have been long and devoid of much rest. Monterrey is a city of smog and pedestrians, tight streets winding up hills and barking dogs in the night. I asked my host if the perros were dangerous. He said, "Algunos si, otros no." I just hope I don't come across one of the "algunos si" dogs who thinks gringos should stay where they belong--north of the dreadfully missnamed Rio Grande. Because the casa has no airconditioning, the poisonous air fills my brain at night and strikes me with a storm of itching sinuses and tormentuous sneezing at about 2 am. I've decided to just quit my vegan ways and take some antihistiamine before I go to bed.

Los ninos at the orphanage are full of energy and devoid of dicipline. At least that's the way it seems. Now that I have been here a couple days and the barrier of blank stares and "mas despacio por favor" is falling like Hadrian's Wall, I can see more respect in their eyes, not to mention less kicking and biting when I make them come inside for lunch.

Some phrases I have learned excedingly well from them are; "Do it again," "Give it to me," and "Not on your life you stinking gringo, greener than a ripe avocado." At least, that's what I think the kid was saying. I'm still not sure if it was good or bad but he didn't exactly sound like the welcoming comitee at church when he said it. I made the mistake of teaching one girl how to say, "Under doggy." Now I hear her at all hours, whether we're in the park or five miles from anything resembling a swing set. She wanted me to give her an under doggy this morning when I arrived at the house where there are no swings and again when she was jumping on a trampoline. How in the world I'm supposed to give her an under doggy on a trampoline is beyond me. So I've just gotten into the habit of screaming, "No, No, no more under doggies!" whenever I see her, before she has a chance to say anything. It makes things much simpler.

They call me tio, which means uncle. All the women are tia. To hear, "Tio, mira," (which is "Uncle, watch,") or to actually have a little boy understand what I say and pick up his shoes with a smile helps me to see one reason why I am here. They need a male in there lives (I almost said man) and I can act in that role for the short time that I am here. I can show them the side of Christ's love that is masculine and picks two or three of them up in the courtyard while they scream as loud as I can run. A lot of these kids have parents but either the parents are poor or the homes are not safe. So the casa hogar takes them in with motherly tenderness. While I am here, I can try to support them with fatherly love.