October 6

Tarynn and I came back from the Infa and I went to help some of the girls pick through frijoles (beans) to pick out the dirt and the deformed ones. This was extremely boring, but I’m glad I helped because one of the older girls said she would look through my hair for piojos (lice). I was very thankful for this. Mandy, one of the other volunteers, was getting her hair searched also. She was saying that she freaked out when she first got lice, but she realized that she was going to be there for a while and she’d just keep getting it so she calmed down and just accepted it. Then Ingrid shows up (she’s the one who came to visit after volunteering for a year) and she says that after only two weeks at the Infa, she has loads of lice. She told me that she took four blank pieces of paper and she combed her hair with a lice comb and put the lice on the paper, and the four pieces were filled. I wanted to cry. Now we find out that Laurel is safe. She’s another volunteer and she had her hair checked as well. Meanwhile, I’m considering cutting my hair… or even shaving my head. I figured it might be easier with the heat… but then again, I’d have some crazy sun burns. I then pushed aside my momentary loss of judgment and I grasped on to the fact that I really didn’t want to cut my hair. These girls have dealt with it and I can too. They say that there’s no avoiding it and I have to accept it. Berta pulled out two lice eggs from my hair. They were right. There’s no avoiding it. They said that I don’t have any lice, but I had a few eggs. That means there had to be at least one in there. My parents are sending me a package with some lice killers. Oh FedEx men of Honduras, where are you when I need you? I’ll accept you whether or not your wear khaki pants. Please come quickly.

Also, another sad note… I entered my room today and found dirt all over my bed. Not only that, but I saw a little splotch of blood on it. The boys were climbing over the wall while we were gone. I tried to ask one of the boys who did it, but he said that he didn’t know. When Maria Jose found out, she went into the boys’ room before it was time for bed and she scolded them. I’m not sure what she said, but she made them change the room around. She said that there shouldn’t be anything touching our wall that they can climb on. In the end, Elias (the seven year old raptor) confessed that he did it. The thing that made me really angry was that when Maria Jose was scolding them, two of the boys said that I had let them climb over before. They said that I had locked my key inside and I had them go over the wall and open it for me. I couldn’t believe they could lie and I was standing right there. I always make sure I have my key. I do that because I want to make sure I never has to ask them that because I don’t ever want them climbing over that wall. It made me really angry that they had to do that.

It was also Mainor’s birthday tonight. Ingrid had taken the time to go into town and buy him a cake to celebrate with the rest of the boys. We had the cake in our room and there was a candle that I was going to light. When I tried lighting the candle, it blew out. Silly me… I forgot about the fans facing my direction. I was about to get another one, but Ingrid yelled at us to open the door. We let her in and she said that Mainor didn’t want it. I was shocked. He was being a huge jerk to Ingrid. She had taken the time to buy him a cake and he told her that he didn’t want it. Ingrid left with the cake, the knife, the plates, the candle, and the hat she bought him. She was angry and I don’t blame her. Tarynn and I went to talk to her and she just said she needed time to cool down and she hoped he would say sorry for hurting her tomorrow. I really hope he does. He needs to learn how to be grateful. I wanted to have a talk with him… but of course I have no idea how to do that. My Spanish is on the limited side.

I’ve been reading this book by Lynn Cox… she is an amazing woman. She’s a famous long-distance swimmer who has accomplished a lot. She swam the Catalina Channel when she was super young and then went on to swim the English Channel and different places… even in Antarctica. The book describes a lot of the crazy conditions that she had to go through. I think there’s a lot to learn from her story. Her endurance and her willpower are amazing. There are many times in the book where she thought she couldn’t make it and she didn’t want to go on, but she remembers why she’s there in the first place and continues. Whenever she swims, she has a team of people helping her. She has navigators, pilots, people who watch her to make sure she can take the water she’s in, people to throw her food in the water if she needs energy, people ready to give her medical attention if she needs it, people to shoot the sharks if they try to eat her, and even people to swim ahead of her to break the ice and tell her when she needs to turn to avoid icebergs. Just like her, I’ve got to remember that I have someone who’s got the map all figured out, someone who knows the waters that I’m swimming in, someone who can give me the energy I need to get me through my day, and someone who is in front of me and beside me who can help me get through the obstacles and battles I encounter. I’m not going to lie… It’s really hard being here away from my family and friends where it’s easier and comfortable. I think about home all the time… but I’m trying to remember why I’m here in the first place and I have to remember that I have someone who is carefully watching over me and would never give me more than I can handle. I never have to go through anything alone.