The Mall

     We woke up around 9am and had to move all of our belongings to a hut. Unairconditioned. They have huge fans though, so there is a really nice breeze. Anyway, we move all of our things, and then get ready to hit the town. Karen and all her girls were off today, and our volunteer supervisor arranged for us all to go to the Tyler Mall. 

     So most of the volunteers go in a 15 passenger van, and I drive my sister’s car. I’m following the guy driving, and we are on the road for about 30 minutes when he makes a U-turn. We have to double back several miles to where he missed his turn. After nearly an hour in the car, we arrive at our destination. 

     The guy gets out and apologizes. I feel really bad to keep calling him “the guy”, but I don’t know what his name is…anyway, we get out of the cars, and decide to go eat lunch before we shop. There is an IHOP across the street (a really busy street), so we can’t just walk straight to it. 

     We begin making a long trek to the intersection, only to find there was no cross walk for pedestrians. So we had to go all the way back another block to another intersection, and cross there. The light only gave us about 10 seconds to cross, so we ran. Finally at IHOP. This restaurant was not built to be busy. 

     The entry way was a tiny hallway which led into a tiny reception area. There were 11 of us. It was a really tight fit. We only had to wait for about 15-20 minutes, and then we found a table where they put all of us together. I sat across from Karen and in between two of her boys, Oswaldo (14) and Rodolfo (16). 

     Everyone was speaking Spanish around me and I couldn't understand them. They would point at me, talk in Spanish, and then proceed to laugh. It wasn't funny. Wasn't funny at all. After IHOP, we go back across the street and head into the mall. It is about 1:30pm, and we would be here until 6:30pm. We would be staying for 5 hours. 

     And the mall wasn't that big. I thought for sure we would have plenty of down time. But no. We shopped until we dropped. Well, I didn't. But everyone else did. Karen kept going on about how cheap the prices were, and then proceeded to buy everything!! Okay, okay, not everything. To be honest, she just bought several items for her nephew, Santi (short for Santiago). 

     So anyway, we are at the mall for 5 hours. That’s a really long time. When 6:30pm comes along, the other volunteers get into the van, and I take Hannah and Karen to Walmart. I really needed some sheets for my bed. I forgot some, and I just couldn't imagine living the whole summer without some. 

     I went in for sheets and came out with everything else as well. I’m an awful shopper. I’ll pass buy something that I don’t need and talk myself into buying it. It’s an awful habit. I've gotten better, but still. So after Walmart, we go to the McDonald’s attached to Walmart, and Hannah and I get some food. 

     Then we go to Sonic so Karen can eat. (She doesn't like chicken or burgers). She pronounces it “Sonics”, which is adorable. She gets herself something to eat. The drive back to campus was really nice. Thankfully, even after a year of not being here, I still can find my way around. 

     Back on campus, we relieve Hannah’s car of all of our findings of the day, and store them in the dorms. We go to the lounge to clean up for the private camp that is coming tomorrow and to our amazement, it’s already clean. Unfortunately for Karen, she left her speakers in there the night before, and now she can’t find them. So we walk to the caf in the hopes of finding someone who know what happened to them, but to no avail. 

     We stop in the caf for a while to talk with Karen’s group of people. When we get back into our own dorm, we get everything settled, I prepare my clothes for the next day, and then I drift off to sleep with the sound of Spanish filling the room.