It's hard enough trying to please these guys, but to fit in these shorts? Grueling work, I tell you, grueling.So really, it's been crazy the past couple months but I'm delighted to say, it looks like it has all paid off and there is work yet for our Guatemalan sewer-people. Hooray for Maquila!! Every now and then I find myself laughing at the thought of my PhD cohort at UCSD discovering this deep dark secret. I think there are 2 of them out there who actually know that I'm living in Guatemala working for my maquiladora father instead of doing research on the collision of 16th century Catholicism and Nahua confessional rights in Mesoamerica. I say this because every year, I am invited to join my UCSD buddies to visit nefarious sewing facilities in Tijuana and participate in the ensuing anti-maquiladora rallies where we get to shout obscenities about poor labor conditions while wearing $5 shirts that only corporations like Walmart (and yes, even Target and K-mart) could provide by driving down costs that have forced labor to flee to China. So anyway, yes, we've been busy here. And by the way, if anyone would like a pair of flashy hot pants (leopard print soon available), do let me know.
Besides life at the factory, we've been busy raising these little rascals...
Oh the joys of twins. These guys really are a riot and I'm sorry I don't get to share them with you all because they are just fantastic. It's amazing how you can just stare at your kids for hours and think about how beautiful, brilliant, charismatic, athletic, and clever they are for every second you lay eyes on them.
Linda loves wearing dresses and skirts and is always very particular about what she is going to wear (too bad her outfits all too often consist of hot pink and florescent green camo pants and tops that well-meaning family members here in Guatemala have picked out for her-- and too bad that these are the very outfits that her daddy LOVES to put on her when she goes out). Linda's proudest achievement, in my eyes, is her ability to now articulately pronounce that elusive title to our favorite story book, "Tikitembo-nosarembo-chari bari roochi-pip-peri-pembo." I kid you not. I will put it on a video for you all to see and admire. This child is gifted (in saying ridiculously long non-sensical words her mother places much too much value upon).And Lulu...here she is looking at a piece of birthday cake in the distance...
Oh, Lucy, Lucy, Lucy. This girl has a mind of her own and I LOVE IT. She is quite the chatterbox and says the DARNDEST things. Things like, "Mommy, I have a tummy ache because I'm HUUUNGRY. Pancakes, please? Now, Mommy? Please?" Both girls have a healthy appetite as evidenced by the lasting rolls on their upper thighs and wrists. When those disappear, it will be a sad, sad day. For now though, the girls are wonderfully active, running around just about every second of the day, and often in the opposite direction, especially when we take them somewhere...like church.Anyway, I will try to be more vigilant about posting for posterity's sake. Hopefully things will slow down a bit in the next couple of weeks.
Adios amigos.
PS (Lucy is helping Dave play a video game right now where she pushes the space button to shoot down enemy targets. Nice.)
