Update - November 2002
(written by Aly)
We’ve now been on
Roatan for about 15 ½ months, and we’ve pretty much adjusted to living
here. The rainy season has just begun. It gets down to the mid 70’s on
rainy days, and we’ve been freezing! We’re all working on our Spanish, and
my dad can actually carry on a conversation. The rest of us aren’t quite
there, but we’re much better than when we first came here!
On Wednesdays, while Jeremy and my dad are playing soccer with the boys in Colonia Balfate, my mom and I have been working with a little Spanish girl, Mensy. Mensy doesn’t have a mother, so she lives with her father, who works for someone we know. We’ve been playing with her and teaching her. She’s 5 years old, and she can’t count to ten yet, she doesn’t know the alphabet, and she can’t even write her own name!
Two of her favorite
games are: 1) I guess she invented this one. She holds one end of a jump
rope, and I hold the other. Then we spin it, and she lets go and runs to my
mom while I chase her. She’s very fast! 2) She loves to play
hide-and-go-seek. She and I hide (usually in the same spots over and over)
and my mom walks around saying, “¿Dónde está Mensy?”
(Where is Mensy?) Mensy loves that! Mensy’s favorite book is
Go Dog Go in Spanish. In her
favorite part, two dogs are having a conversation. “Hola. (Hi.) Hola.
(Hi.) ¿Te gusta mi sombrero? (Do you like my
hat?) No, no me gusto. (No, I don’t like it.) Adios. (Bye) Adios.” Now
she always refers to the book as “¿Te gusta mi
sombrero?”
Working with Mensy has been challenging, but fun. I hope that I can give her the love and attention that she needs at this time in her life!