1 AM Encounter with the Police

Get a glass of wine, your favorite beer, or a cup of coffee...actually this is going to be a long one so you better open a bottle, buy a six pack, or start a pot of coffee instead.
I will get to the reason of the title later but I am behind so let me back track a little.
This week is the anniversary of the school at which I am volunteering, so there has been a special activity every day. Tuesday, we ran to the central park and had a feast. Well, this is the rainy season and even though we are somewhat still in cunnicula, the weather is a little unpredictable. Right as we were lined up to run it started a down pour. So we waited a bit, but eventually decided to run in the rain after it slowed down. The students had a blast. They were running and laughing. We had a torch that we tried to light in brief moements of no rain. After we got back, each class had to prepare their food to share. Our class made tostados. We made guac and spead it on chips and then sprinkled cheese. I didn´t eat any of the food because I have to be careful of how things are prepared (has to be washed in pure water-even the avacado-my friend got sick because she ate peeled fruit-when you are peeling it you can contaminte the food) but man there was everything under the sun! I brought a raspberry cake. It was two layers with the first layer white cake and the second layer white cake that had been soaked in raspberry juice. I meant for reveryone to get a little slice but the teacher I work with kept it in the classroom so only my class and their parents, siblings, and grandparents got any. It was too cute though. One little girl kept swiping the icing off her sister´s piece. Then she when I was taking pics of the kids she put bunny ears on everyone...at one point she even put them on herself and had me take the pic. The next day was a movie and kind of boring for me since I didn´t understand much of it. However, after they said prayers to Maria and different people (I think) so that was interesting to me. Today each class acted out a different part of Saint Hermano Pedro´s life and then the dance got rained out. I have met lots of the family members there also this week. Since I am the white girl novelty they all try to have conversations with me. My favorite was an older lady that asked frst off if I was Catholic. I told her and she assumed I was Evangelical so I told her I was Christian. She then went on to tell me how we all have one God and how she reads here bible everyday. Then she abruptly asks if I am from Italy. When I tell her no the US She tells me that is great because there is no violnce there. When I tell her there is violence she laughs and tells me she watches the TV. Not sure what was lost in translation there...finally she called me both a gringa and a gringita during this conversation. It was pricelessª

There is no way to lead into the next topic so here it is...
I may have changed my last name but I am absolutely still a Raney. First when the shuttle picked me up at the airport they did not have a sign for Alicia Morrison instead it was Alicia Raney. Second, I cannot adjust to this if you say you are going to be there at 2:00 that really means 2:30 or school starts at 8 but the teacher may not be there until 8:10. My dad will argue this with me because I am often late to family events but I get to work 30 minutes early everyday. It really has been stange to me. I actually left after 10 minutes of waiting for a friend because I was just so tired of waiting all the time. Tim and I are meeting a Guatemalan friend of mine this weekend but if he is late at least I will have Tim with me. Finally and most important...I am not touchy feely. Never have been never will be. Seriously I hug my friends good-bye because this is their cutom and I have gotten used to it (and would find it weird now if I didn´t with some), I hug my grandmother/family that lives in Oklahoma when I arrive and leave, and my parents on occasion...but ´the only people I kiss or let kiss me is my husband and the kids I work with. Well, let me tell you, I have had to adjust. The people (students and teachers) at the place I volunteer at, my Guatemalan friends, and Ann Marie (the girl from Ireland you may remember from a few post back) all do that hug and kiss on the cheeck at the same time thing. I think I freaked a few people out at first when I stiffened and pulled away slightly. They thought I was offended. Plus for the life of me I cannot figure out the logistics of this hug/cheek kiss thing! I now make some kissing noise as it happens and don´t completely pull my head away but I bet I look like I am in serious pain.
Okay now on to my new housemates...They leave this Saturday and I mean to tell you I am counting down the days. It is a mom and daughter. The daughter is 18 and is nice but the I cannot stand the mom. She complains about the house and neighborhood. Okay seriously, you came to a third world country to live in a house with a middle-class family, were you expecting the Ritz. She complains because the house doesn´t have internet and they are cramped in their room with two beds. Well, lady I have been here long enough to know that the only reason you have two beds is because one of the kids had to give up theirs and share with his brother until you leave. The family has a 4 bedroom 3 bath house but to make money they essentially live in a 2 bedroom 1 bath and there are 5 in the family. Quit complaining. You should have known what you were getting. The neighborhood is good but yeah don´t walk alone at night as a female after 10. That really is just a good rule of thumb no matter where you are. Then she asked me if the family always made my bed because they haven´t been making hers. I MAKE MY OWN BED! This is not a hotel and I follow the "advice" my mama gave me growing up, "You stay at someone else´s house you clean your own mess and that includes your bed". The second night she was here there was a hard rain storm that night and their roof started to leak so she decided to wake up the whole house to fix this problem. Then when the buckets were making too much noise for her she had the parents give her and her daughter their bed and they had to go to the grandmaçs house. She apparently forgot to pack common sense so I suggusted she just put a towel in the bottom of the bucket to soften the noise...oh no that was not acceptable, she had paid good money stay here. We pay less than 100 for a room each night and three meals a day 6 days a week. Have I mentioned how much I do not like this lady. She also argued with me about some of the social issues in Dallas...like some kids cannot afford to go to school at all so they never do just like here in Guatemala...I informed her we have free public school systems and she smirked and told me the USA has everything bad. Oh I cannot wait for Saturday. I would say more but once my parents read this and they may want to wash my mouth out with soap when I return if I wrote what I want to.
Okay so the title of this post....has to do with this lady still. Remember, she woke the whole house up the night before. Well, last night at about 1 Am the lights go on and I am dioriented when I wake up. I am checking my clock when I hear rushed panicked spanish and the word "police" I then hear lots of whispering and rushing around and doors opening and shutting. I knew the night before they got in late so of course my imagination thinks they got home late and someone is in their room because at this point I realize she is telling the family to call the police. I am frozen, scared to death and am thinking of ways to change my flight and leave this weekend with Tim. Then I hear Marvin walking around upstairs, so I yell out like a little kid "Marvin, I am scared. What is going on" He tells me the daughter was supposed to be home earlier and had not shown up. So the mom leaves to look for her and contact the police. We are worried for the daughter and the mom becuase now mom is walking around at night by herslef. Mom comes home without daughter but has not made herself sick so she spends some time in the bathroom with some very loud diahrrea. Around 3 AM the doorbell rings and it is the police with the daughter. The mom had them go to clubs around the town asking girls if they were from Isreal and if there name was Myana since she was "missing". The word 12 and 2 sound similiar in Spanish so all of this was because the mom thought the daugther said she would be home by 12.
This morning, I went down to breakfast early and Marvin and Sylvia were like OMG they have to leave soon ¿and we all mean it we want to sleep thorugh the night? but once they were downstairs we all laughed and joked about it. Crazinessª

Not spell checking so please forgive all errors