Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Deyra's First Christmas in the U.S.


I think that Deyra’s first Christmas in the U.S. was a success! We made sure that she had the complete Christmas experience as Christmas is my favorite time of year. We took her to Zoolights, which is where the zoo is lit up and decorated at night. Many of the animals were sleeping but she got to see a few including the giraffes. She was very impressed and said that she’d only seen animals like that in books before. I’ll have to take her to the zoo during the day so that she can see all of the animals!

Zoolights!

We also went to Christmas Tree Lane, two miles of houses that go all out decorating for Christmas each year. Deyra really seemed to like all the lights and took a lot of pictures. She said that she had never seen anything like that in her life. Many of the houses have themes and wooden cutouts and decorations in addition to the lights. It’s pretty impressive to me so I can only imagine what it was like to Deyra.

Christmas Tree Lane

A week before Christmas, we went to Kevin’s Uncle and Aunt’s house to make beerocks like his grandparents used to do. Deyra learned how to make them and helped out. She also helped with the puzzle (she doesn’t quite have the hang of those yet) and participated in the “As Seen on T.V.” gift exchange. She got the hang of the stealing gifts idea pretty quickly. Unfortunately, her gifts got stolen numerous times and she ended up with a pet hair brush. She got a kick of watching us use it on the cats but won’t get much use out of it herself.

Deyra making beerocks

A couple of days before Christmas a friend’s mom gave Deyra a bunch of her daughter’s old clothes. Literally, we brought home two garbage bags full! I had Deyra pick out some things that she wanted and try them on and model them for me to make sure they fit. Turns out she has gained a little weight and a lot of them did not fit. Deyra said that there are three other girls who are her size or smaller in her group so we are going to give the rest of the clothes to them. It was like early Christmas as she almost doubled her wardrobe! I was even inspired to get rid of some of my own clothes, something I never do!

Que monton de ropa

My family celebrated Christmas Eve at my house this year because my grandmother, my mom’s mother, passed away a couple of days before Christmas and we didn’t want my mom to have to do anything. Deyra told me that she wanted to make suspiros and asked for sugar, egg whites, and a spoon. She then spent the next hour beating them into meringue. I had given her a whisk but had I realized what she planned to do, I would have given her the hand mixer. I can’t believe that she spent an hour whisking eggs and sugar into meringue! To make things worse, nobody really ate them so it was like she wasted all that effort.

Family picture

Christmas in my family is a little different than the traditional Christmas. We always eats Italian food on Christmas Eve because my grandmother is Italian and that is what we grew up doing. We had tons of food including lasagna and rigatoni and then opened presents. I think that Deyra was a bit overwhelmed at first because there were so many presents. We take turns opening one present at a time and she seemed unsure of what to do at first. By the end, she was ripping them open when it came her turn. She got a lot of clothes, books, games, and even an MP3player!

A gingerbread man from Grandma Marty

We went to the candlelight church service at 11:00 PM on Christmas Eve and I think Deyra was pretty tired. She ran to bed when we got home. We then got up at 7:00 AM the next morning to open stockings. Santa was good to her and she got lots of her favorite food, candy. We ate breakfast and then headed off to church and after that to Kevin’s parent’s house. Deyra got more presents including a sterling silver necklace and bracelet and pineapple lotion from our nephew who smelled every single one to make sure he got her the best scent!


We spent the day with Kevin’s family and I know Deyra was exhausted (I sure was and even took a nap!). She played games with us for a little while and then kind of disappeared to the living room. She said that she had a good time and liked all of her Christmas presents. I asked Deyra what Christmas is like for her in Nicaragua and she said that they eat a lot on the 24th and her family goes to church. She said that she had never received a Christmas present before so no wonder she was overwhelmed!

Deyra and I baking cookies

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Deyra's First Thanksgiving and other Adventures


Once again, I have been slow in my blogging…I’m not very good at it. Deyra had her first Thanksgiving with us, sadly I don’t have any pictures, but it went well. My family came over to our house for Thanksgiving and Deyra helped me out in the kitchen and learned the names of a lot of veggies. Deyra liked the Macy’s parade so much that she turned it on in her room even though it was on in the living room. After some encouraging, she came out and watched with me. She tried all the food and said that she liked it all. We all took turns saying what we were thankful for and Deyra said, “for my family here”, it was sweet.


Deyra with Erika and Robert at Kevin's Birthday Party

Thanksgiving night, Kevin and I headed to LA for a reunion with our Peace Corps family (the others who were in Catacamas with us). Deyra stayed with my mom and had only one problem. Apparently my mom told her that she was going to get firewood on Saturday and that they had to pick Laurie up first. She pointed to the wood and Deyra said that she understood. When they got to Laurie’s house (she lives next door to us), Deyra jumped out of the car, said “thanks for everything”, and ran inside. My mom and Laurie were really confused and assumed that when Deyra heard “Laurie’s house” she figured that she could go home. Deyra had wanted to stay home alone but we told her that she needed to stay with someone so she could practice her English. My mom and Laurie did not want to make her go back to my mom’s if she didn’t want to so they just left her.

Needless to say, I was a little angry when I found out what Deyra had done. I had explained to her in English and Spanish how long/what days she was staying at my mom’s and how she would get home. When I asked Deyra what happened, she said that my mom told her they were going to Laurie’s so she just went home. I explained to her that this was not what she was supposed to do and she apologized and said that she did not understand. I took the TV out of her room since all she does is watch Spanish TV and not practice English. She was ok with that. Everyone is pretty sure that she understood and just saw it as a way to stay at our house alone like she wanted.


Decorating the Christmas Tree

Christmas is very different in Nicaragua than it is in the U.S. and Deyra is learning about our traditions. She helped me decorate the Christmas tree (she put all of the ball ornaments in one area and I had to redo it later) and went to a Christmas parade with us. I keep trying to get her to make a Christmas list but she is reluctant. I think that she does not want to seem greedy. I finally explained to her last night that people don’t have to buy her all of the things on the list, it is just a guide. That seemed to do the trick and she said that she would make one today.


Reedley College Float at the Parade

We went out of town last weekend and Deyra stayed with our friend, Grace, who goes to our church. Grace has had numerous SEED students in the past and was more than willing to have Deyra stay with her. According to Deyra, they had fun; she spoke in English and learned to play the piano. Grace was much more descriptive and said that they went to Walmart, a Mary Kay party, helped out at a parent’s night out babysitting event, went to adult Sunday School, and she taught Deyra to play a song on the piano. It sounds like the opposite of what Deyra is like at our house. She apparently went everywhere that Grace suggested (she always chooses to stay home with us if given the choice), did not stay in her room, and spoke English (her only option with Grace). I think that she probably felt like she had to participate since she does not know Grace that well like she did with us when she first arrived. As soon as we came home, she started talking in Spanish again and didn’t want to go anywhere with us...baby steps.

Even without the TV in her room, Deyra still spends the majority of her time in there. We always invite her to watch TV with us (well, the rare times that we watch TV), and I have told her that she can watch TV in the living room whenever she wants. We often see her just staring at the ceiling in her room. For some reason she prefers to be alone in her room. As a result, her English is not improving very much. It is still impossible to have an actual conversation with her, and she still generally answers us in Spanish. We have started saying, “What, I don’t understand” when she talks to us in Spanish. Hopefully Christmas break and not being around Spanish speaking people all the time will help.


Our Christmas Card Picture

Up next: Deyra has finals, Deyra’s first Christmas

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