HUGS AND KISSES

All the little guys!

Kaylor loves to be thrown in the air!

Kaylor trolling under the tables in order to sneak some crayons...he seems to think they are tasty.

Brandon and me :)

Aimee being tackled by the kids.

            Jose, my best friend since I was born, and I always talk about how interesting our communication must have been when we were young. While his first language was Spanish, we were playing together and somehow understood one another. Our families say that we always seemed to know what the other was doing.

            Similarly, at el Rio, there are moments when my Spanish limits me but our communication never fails. Today, when my friend Aimee (who has a blog as well and I put it as a link today on the sidebar of my own blog) and I arrived at the Rancho, most of the older kids were helping at the houses. It is typical, especially towards the end of the week for the parents to have the kids help in the house rather than sending them to school or letting them come color in the Rancho. For us, this meant that we had a fun day with Tito, Kaylor, Kevin, and Brandon. They are four of the younger boys and always eager for attention.

            At one point in the afternoon, Aimee found herself sitting on the floor with the boys all tackling her. She is not one for critters, germs, or dust but she said that at some point, you just have to let what happens happen. Igniting a flame solely based in love rather than a selfish fear of dirt and grime, Aimee allowed herself to find a closeness to the children than had before existed. Being limited to hola, cuidado, and muy bien as Spanish phrases, Aimee was still able to communicate with the young boys.

            The young kids are not the only ones that seek refuge when we are all hanging out in the Rancho. It seems like all the dogs filter in as well. It is interesting that they will hide under the tables close to Aimee, her husband Rob, or me. It is as if they know, that there is a safe zone from the beating and tail pulling of the children and adults at el Rio. Here, the respect for animals becomes trivial when survival is what you think of every day. Dogs are fed diapers because it gets rid of the trash and they will eat it, kittens are replaceable once they are either eaten by another animal or die in a storm, and chickens are most often featherless.

            All of the situations just made me think there had to be more to communication then just a language. How is it that two best friend speak different languages and still are so close? Or, at what point is a relationship established when a British girl who knows no Spanish becomes a friend to four Spanish toddlers? In regards to the animals, there has to be something that makes them understand that they are safe around others while subject to abuse around others. Hugs and kisses seem to be the key with the children. Giving them a big hug when they walk in the door starts the day our right and before they leave in the afternoon they run and scream hugs and kisses at us as they walk out the door.

            Today has been a day of awareness for effective communication. While learning a lot of Spanish has been a great accomplishment while here in Costa Rica, learning to communicate compassion and love seems to be even more of an achievement. Luckily, this is a lesson that transcends any language barrier and will be an important tool no matter where I go!