666

Wow! A dollar a minute doesn't sound nearly as bad as $6.66 per minute! YES. That's what was charged for the Int'l collect calls. Yeah. Don't ever accept these. My sister suggested I call to try to get them reduced. I like her idea.

International Collect Phone Calls

Okay, so I can just imagine what those calls cost. I had to tell Nora not to call me collect. Don't get me wrong. If something was wrong or she really needed to call, then of course she could, but not just because she is homesick. She lost her phone so now it's either three minutes for $3 phone card or call collect. She's done both.

She is doing well otherwise. She is living with two older señoras, no kids, no men. They baked her a cake on her 18th birthday. She's been busy making lesson plans and teaching classes. I'm not sure what she's teaching, but it's along side another volunteer so she's not alone. I miss her more than I expected, especially since all the other kids that were here, except for Leigh, have gone home.

Missing My Baby Girl

Okay. So she's not exactly my baby. She turned eighteen, so technically she is an adult.

My beautiful daughter, Nora, has been away for three weeks and has another month to go. I've had a couple of phone calls, which she gets nervous about because the phone's earpiece has earwigs inside of it and makes her all jittery every time she calls. Here she is on the phone in her room. She lost that phone on the plane in Guadalajara or somewhere.
Nora: Hold on. There's a bug poking it's head out. tap tap No. It won't come out.
Me: Why don't you cover the phone with a cloth... a sock or something.
Nora: Wow. Now I feel like an idiot. Hey Katie, my mom says we should cover the phone with a piece of cloth. Why didn't we think of that?

She graduated in June and left a week later for Michoacan Mexico -- actually a little town near the town of La Piedad called Cuitzeo. She is there with Amigos De Las Americas and will volunteer by teaching smaller children art and English and helping organize and educate their youth about environmental issues and causes. These people are extremely poor. They don't have running water and most don't have indoor plumbing. I think her community projects include stove building and tree planting.

I love and miss her so much. I had five other kids here - three were teenagers - to keep me busy, but now that they are gone, I find myself thinking about her all the time. I'm putting together a memory book for her as a surprise when she returns. It will cover her school years all the way up to starting college. It will end with flight info and a pair of tickets to see The Beatles LOVE by Cirque Du Soleil in Las Vegas.