Today our translator/guide, Vicky, took us on a trip into the mountains to be in cooler weather/cleaner air, as well as to see some of the other communities in this part of Colombia. We are in the state (Departamento) of Antioquia. Some parts are very modern. Others are poor and much like the communities were 40 years ago. Many of the towns we visited were beautiful and had unique characteristics like local artisans who made specialized furniture. We stopped at an artisans market and asked the girls to choose some souvenirs to take back home. Three of the girls chose typical dolls, one of the girls chose a little typical country house. The store was beautiful, and the girls were good about looking around without asking for much. One of the communities that we happened to go to was a town of some of the foster families. The girls were very excited to see familiar sites they had not seen in a while. We did not stop, because we were worried we might come in contact with someone that we are legally told to stay away from. Contact with people in the girls past could nullify the adoption. The climate in the mountains is like Wisconsin summers, warm during the day and cool at night. As a result, there are many
Guernsey and Jersey cows roaming the fields around these communities. That area is common for U.S. and European retirees. We also drove close by President Uribe's cow farm. It was a beautiful ride but we were all wiped after wards (I'm not much for curvy roads even though there are many in PR)
There are times when the girls seem not get along and others were they seem inseparable. When they are playing together, such as the pool, they act silly and play innocent games and enjoy each other's company. We can't help but think that they will never again have a time like this again. We know that once we get back to the U.S. they will be engaging in different activities, will develop their own friendships and begin to further develop their different personalities. Before coming here we were told that there would be no contact with their orphanage during the time, however the girls were allowed to call their orphanage this week and talked to a couple of the teachers. Now, the orphanage is not sure whether they want to continue this, so this is causing some anxiety because they are told they can and then they are told they can't. Since we can't give a definite answer, it undermines us. I think the intention was that they call kids, but since they said 'friends', the orphanage never considered that these friends could be adults, and now they are changing their minds.
Giving the girls allowances I think was a good move from our part, but at the same time it has caused some issues. Truly the girls have no concept of money and what can be done with it necessarily. Their first impulse is to spend it, but many of the things they'd like to buy are out of their reach. Today while we were driving through the artisan towns, They saw some little piggy banks. Our second oldest has a birthday coming up and she had liked a little pig she had seen at the store. Instead of getting this pig, our guide stopped by clay artisan's shop where there were clay piggys for 2,000 pesos (about 1 dollar). The piggy's were beautiful and the girls began to put their money inside of them. They were very excited about this until they realized later after they got home that the pigs could not be opened, yet they now wanted their money back so they could buy mints from the grocery store (something two of the girls had just done). Our oldest took responsibility over this (as usual) and proceeded to help her sisters get their money out with a knife (we used to do the same thing in our house (MM), as a result one of the piggy banks is now broken because it was too fragile to withstand this excavation. These are the hard lessons that the girls are learning and will continue to learn as they will be given more responsibilities. We've asked them not to flaunt their money in front of their sisters and they have gotten better at this. One thing that we are realizing more and more is that the girls do not know what to do during unstructured time. This usually results in the girls all wanting to work in the computer at the same time or asking to use our cameras to take pictures or movies of each other. Even though we have provided them with some things that they can do during these times, they seem more fascinated by the technological gadgets than in other things. So we have now come to the conclusion that we need to structure their day a little more, and teach them board games and other activities that they can do on their own without our interference, as this is also affecting our ability to clean, wash clothes keep the house clean, cook meals etc. Alex is feeling frustrated about his abilities to understand as much as he would like. There continue to be moments when the girls will be sharing facts and stories about their past, and they all talk at the same time (I did the same thing with my sisters and still do). It's hard enough to keep up with one person much less with four fast talking Latinas. But because what they are sharing is important for them to share, Alex does not want to ask for translations every few sentences and break up the flow of conversations. Tomorrow we will be going to visit another little kid that is being adopted by a Swedish couple. One thing we learned today was that most of the dark skinned Colombian kids are not adopted by Colombians or Americans, but rather by Europeans and Scandinavians as they are more interested in these kids. Our guide said that this has been going on for a while and that some of these dark skinned Colombian kids are now doctors and professionals and that some of them come back later to visit their former city. --MM