Valentine Burbujas

This last Friday Ella’s school had a gigantic Valentine’s Day Party at her school for 3 hours (with early release at noon). I volunteered to help out at our class’s “Burbujas” stand (bubbles), and helped the children make giant bubbles all morning. I also escaped briefly throughout the morning to follow/take Ella around to all of the activities. Ella decorated a few sugar cookies (with a TON of sprinkles), went “fishing” with a group of her best friends from school (there’s Pablo, the boy she is head-over-heels for, as well as the only other English speaker from her class, Olivia, and her best buddy from church, Amelia). Ella got her face painted, and most enjoyed getting “made up” at the Beauty Salon station. They painted her fingernails, put on eyeshadow and lipstick, and even blush. Below is a picture of her admiring the final product in a mirror.

One funny thing about the Beauty Salon…
Earlier this week I received a notice from the school about the party. “We remind you that this Friday the 13th we celebrate Valentine’s Day with our Kermesse” (what, Kermit?), and “As a form of prevention we have decided the Beauty Salon activity wil be makeup and nail painting.” Hmm…what form a prevention is makeup and nail painting? I didn’t understand, but it gave me a good laugh 🙂

In addition the activities (bracelet making, dancing, cookies, Beauty Salon, Bubbles, etc), there were also food stands. The kids could get palentas (Mexican ice creams/Popsicles on a stick…my favorite!), popcorn, and even healthy things like a cup of corn (healthy and fresh foods are quite the norm…you’ll see cooked corn, and sliced cucumbers available on the roadsides). So, I finally took the opportunity to eat some true Mexican corn! As I was warned, it was not sweet at ALL!! It was not the American sweet corn that I love so much! It was actually almost completely tasteless, but with the normal texture of corn. Generally, you see corn barbaqued on the roadsides, and then covered in chili pepper. Perhaps those flavors are necessary to make it truly enjoyable? 😉